HUMANICS
INSIDE OUT IN WRITING
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Editor
Paul U. Congdon
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Authors
Seth Arsenian
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H. H. Giles
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Sean O'Connor
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Emery W. Seymour
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Charles F. Weckwerth
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Holmes N. Vanderbeck
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Charles E. Silvia
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Humanics;
Inside Out in Writing
A small college sabbatical proposal in the mid sixties included a plan to visit thirty colleges and pose to administrators and faculty the question, "What is the educational philosophy of this institution"? The proposal was approved, the sabbatical granted, the colleges visited, and the question asked. Results were of two types. Most personnel were unable to encapsulate any philosophy represented by the college which employed them. They responded with vague mention of dedication to excellence, preparation for graduate work, and teaching people to think. Those few who were able to give a philosophy which held together in some logical way appeared, to judge by conflicting responses of others in the same college, to be enunciating their personal philosophies without regard to consensus within the institution.
The following essays comprise part of an effort by administration and faculty of one college to stay honest with relation to the established philosophy of that college, humanics.
The first Distinguished Professor of Humanics was Dr. Seth Arsenian. His appointment was for the expressed purpose of catalyzing a renewal of consciousness of philosophy of humanics. This would be followed up by continuous examination of the implications of pedagogy, for curriculum, for management, for recruitment, and for placement and community impact. For this reason Dr. Arsenian in 1967 first addressed the faculty with; The Meaning of Humanics. It was the first of what became a series of attempts by various faculty to report out to their peers what they had been acting out, they believed, for years, namely, an internalized version of a philosophy of humanics. The yearly reports to faculty, the books and articles that followed, became additional routes by which to bring expressions of philosophy from inside out in writing,
The Meaning of Humanics
by
Seth Arsenian, Ph.D. , Distinguished Springfield
Professor of Humanics
January, 1967
Having set the stage, in his report on the meaning of the humanics philosophy, for future reports which could range from more theory to highly practical application, Dr. Arsenian, in his 1968 report, Changes in Attitudes and Values During the Four Years of College, described a study he had done. It was a study, as its title indicates, which was an especially appropriate activity for a professor exploring the implications of an education based consciously in the humanics. The report is not reproduced here, but the editor presumes to highlight it as follows:
1. Students entering as freshmen in 1958 and 1959 and continued to graduation in 1962 and 1963, were tested on values and questioned on attitudes and opinions upon entering and just prior to graduation.
2. The study added to the evidence that the contention, which once predominated, that students were usually graduated with the same values as those with which they entered, is false.
3. It indicated, for the population studied, little or no change in economic and political values, but appreciable positive changes in theoretical and aesthetic value. These were somewhat at the expense of social and religious values which changed negatively.
4. The report included discussions of some of the pedagogical, and humane implications of the knowledge that values are altered during college years and that some of the influence causing the change is college- sponsored. The subliminal curriculum, rather than the explicit one, seems emphasized in this discussion. The overarching implication, of course, is that if we are able consciously to alter values, the immensity of our responsibility towards society, through those individuals in it who are touched directly or indirectly by our influence, becomes apparent.
The overarching implication cited above is an appropriate introduction to Dr. Arsenian's final report to the faculty as Distinguished Springfield Professor of Humanics. It was delivered in 1969.
HUMANICS AND HIGHER EDUCATION
A PSYCHOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION
BY
Seth Arsenian, Ph. D.
Distinguished Springfield Professor of Humanics
The second Distinguished Springfield Professor of Humanics was Dr. H. H. Giles, who took a two year assignment in this post after a long and distinguished career in higher education on faculties of several colleges, as Director of the Bureau for Intercultural Education, as founder and director of the Center for Human Relations Studies at New York University, as Chairman of the Board of Goddard College, as lecturer, consultant, and acknowledged outstanding teacher. Dr. Giles found the humanics philosophy compatible with his own thinking and, while observing a self-conscious sincerity among faculty at Springfield about humanics, he noted, at the same time, practices which seemed incongruous. His choice of illustrations and quotations in his first report seems to hint at this.
SPRINGFIELD COLLEGE 1971 Humanics Address
by H. H. Giles
Human Nature and Human Affairs
About two and a half months before Dr. Giles was to deliver his second humanics report, he suffered a stroke which paralyzed one side from top to bottom. After hospitalization, he was placed in a rehabilitation center for therapy. Although his speech was still slurred and his locomotion extremely labored and exhausting by the time some of his friends saw him, he sent word to the dean that he was aiming for the March faculty meeting and would be sufficiently recovered to deliver his message in person. His wife, Mary, disagreed. He hadn't developed the speech much by then and such a timetable was unrealistic and probably inhumane. Doctors, however, encouraged him to plan on that speech and to work on recovering accordingly.
On March 9th, 1972, "Mike" Giles was introduced to the faculty for his second humanics address. His arm was in a sling, he leaned on a cane, his facial muscles still showed signs of recent paralysis, but his words were clearly enunciated. He began, in his address to a faculty which enjoyed international reknown in the field of physical education, thus:
"Ladies and Gentlemen, when I first came to Springfield College, I was puny and weak, but now look at me!"
After a few paragraphs of his presentation, Dr. Giles allowed himself the indulgence of half sitting on a high lab stool provided for the occasion. That was the last acknowledgment of his physical condition he allowed himself as he continued his address and then posed and fielded questions afterward.
SPRINGFIELD COLLEGE
1972 HUMANICS ADDRESS
H. H. Giles, Springfield Distinguished Professor of Humanics
During his term as the Distinguished Professor, Dr. Arsenian and interested faculty were developing an idea for a book on humanics.* At the same time, on campuses around the country, students activism had begun to have a high impact and, in due course, it made its way to the campus where Dr. Arsenian was leading the effort to make humanics as visible as it was thought to be pervasive. Student and Faculty activists and those students and faculty interested in preserving the status quo, all suddenly found it tactical, and occasionally appropriate, to promote their views with frequent use of word, "humanics". There were, in this period, moments of relative calm, during one of which the academic dean noted that the format of Dr. Arsenian's humanics book now beginning to crystallize, showed a final chapter by the president of the college, Dr. Wilbert E. Locklin, called "The Possible Dream". Why not start the book with a prologue which asked the question being posed by students and faculty in these stressful times, "Is humanics an impossible dream?" This was a clever and meaningful way to bracket the rest of the book. Right? Sure, it was, but views to the contrary prevailed at the time, and the prologue was not used. Here follows, however, in its world premiere, that prologue.
*This title became The Humanics Philosophy of Springfield College Springfield College Springfield, Mass 1969.
PROLOGUE
Is Humanics An Impossible Dream?
Paul U. Congdon
After Seth Arsenian completed his editing of this book1 and before President Locklin could address himself to his assignment, a culminating and summary chapter entitled "The Possible Dream," a number of events occurred which were to test severely the concepts discussed in this book.
1. Black students organized and issued a set of demands somewhat reflecting those made at the other campuses, But defended both as to content and method of presentation, not only in terms of racial redress, as at other campuses, but in the language of Humanics as well, thus challenging us to live up to ourselves as a College. This challenge, of course, had inherent in it the observation that there is, from the point of view of the protesters, too large a gap between our Humanics Ideals and what we actually do.
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1. Seth Arsenian, The Humanics Philosophy of Springfield College Springfield College, Springfield, Mass 1969
2. When it was impossible for the President to offer a response that was satisfactory to the Central Committee of Black Students within forty-eight hours, the Blacks conducted a peaceful, orderly, and, for many people, informative teach-in.
3. Months transpired without progress on the demands sufficient to satisfy the Central Committee of Black Students and the Administration Building was occupied for a night and morning. Police were called but the Blacks vacated minutes before their arrival.
4. Student power asserted itself through The Springfield Student as article after article appeared differing, in its' criticism of the establishment, only in the use of shock language from the sentiments expressed throughout the College's history in articles appearing in The Student written by persons now established in society and probably threatened by the idea of student power.
5. One student writer found particularly offensive to some trustees, alumni, faculty, administration, and students was expelled from school by the Dean of Students. He appealed to the Faculty Hearing Committee, who, on the advice of legal council, recommended reversal of the Dean's action. The Dean did reverse the action, but more important, the document giving the rationale for the Committee's recommendation established among other things, strong support for the view that a student, by electing to attend a private college, does not sign away basic human rights.
6. A peaceful sit-in of the Administration Building on behalf of free speech accompanied the procedure related to the above event.
7. Continuing disappointment in real but inefficient progress on the Black demands, plus a race related incident in a dormitory, plus a generally stressful atmosphere on campus over Vietnam war moratoria, constant sniping at the College from the immediate community because of the College's alleged inactivity in social redress despite its well publicized philosophy of community involvement, and other, less, tangible, factors contributing to anxiety and stress culminated in a take-over of a-dormitory by Black Students.
8, After three days the Black students were evacuated by court order but their action, and reactions to the various methods of dealing with them, polarized the campus.
9. Sympathetic white students, calling for the return of black students who had been separated from campus pending hearings, took over the Administration Building and were removed by riot police in a highly visible and demoralizing action.
10. These students obtained a court injunction preventing the College from taking disciplinary action against them until an alleged impropriety in the college hearing procedure was rectified.
11. Police brutalization of Springfield College students who had no previous record of law violation, radicalism, or irresponsibility, as they marched in protest over the Cambodian invasion made the College campus unofficially the scene of a number of protest meetings involving other colleges, the community, and Springfield College Students.
12. A strike meeting called by the Student Council offered views ranging from the position of Young Americans for Freedom on the right through various degrees each side of center to S.D.S. on the left. It was well attended and each speaker received courteous if not equal support. Springfield professors were given several options allowing for student initiative in the National Strike. One option not allowed was the cancellation of classes.
13. A Collegium of administration, faculty, trustees, students, and alumni were engaged to work through the summer to find answers to deep cutting problems of alleged racism on campus, student power in campus governance, and the process and nature of justice.
Which of these problems should arise at all in a College guided by the philosophy of Humanics? What solutions are appropriate in a College guided by the Philosophy of Humanics?
It is the faith of the majority at the College that Springfield has been tested in the past and Humanics, as understood then, not only survived but was the, basis of the efforts of the College to survive. The majority believe that Humanics is not an impossible dream and as a guiding philosophy it will be better understood and healthier than ever as a result of conscientious work by people of good will on the critical problems of the College in a time of revolution, 1970. The gap between the Humanics ideals of the College and the practical, daily performance of the College will be substantially reduced and Springfield College will once again be out ahead of the higher education establishment.
Repeated reference to the pages of this prologue may stimulate worthwhile, competing, interpretations during the reading of the chapters to follow.2
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2This never became a prologue. It was intended as a prologue to Seth Arsenian's book previously cited, to the chapters of which the final sentence of the unused prologue refers.
Despite the failure to use the foregoing prologue, Dr. Arsenian's book, The Humanics Philosophy of Springfield College,3 was published by Springfield College and well received by the college family. It contains chapters on the history of the philosophy, its physical and intellectual dimension, its spiritual dimension (a chapter by Fred Gladstone Bratton), its concept of the whole man in its relationship to higher education generally and the particular collegiate community as well as to the community-at-large, and to the humanization of man. The concluding chapter is, "The Possible Dream", by Wilbert E. Locklin, President of Springfield College. Except for those chapters credited to Drs. Bratton and Locklin, the book is Dr. Arsenian's editorial synthesis of writings and commentary of his own, plus those of many interested faculty such as Dr. Charles Weckwerth, Professor Sean O'Connor, Dr. Paul Congdon, Dean Emeritus, Thornton Merriam, Dr. Henry Paar, and others.
Whole man that he is, Dr. Arsenian, faced with compulsory retirement in 1969 at his estimated age of 67 (family flight from his childhood homeland left him without an accurate record of date of birth), he secured a professorship at California Western in San Diego, California, where he currently (1977) still serves.
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3. op cit.
The new focus on humanics encouraged other published observations on the concept. In 1973, Professor Sean O'Connor, of the Teacher Education faculty of Springfield College, published Man Is Born to Play and Other Essays. In it is included "The Case for the Bachelor of Humanics". Renewal of the use of this earned degree was actually proposed on two occasions to the Academic Affairs Commission of Springfield College. The proposal did not prevail. Perhaps it should be offered again.
A CASE FOR THE BACHELOR OF HUMANICS
A recent issue of Time Magazine carried a feature which stated that mid-twentieth century professors, in contrast to their earlier colleagues, exhibit little or no allegiance to the college at which they teach. They do not consider their institution as theirs nor do they feel any particular attachment or loyalty to the college which houses, feeds, and takes care of their social needs.
What the feature is saying in essence is that twentieth-century institutions have lost their distinctiveness as institutions, that every college is more or less the same; that professors could, in a conflict situation, get along at another college just as well as at the present one.
As I mused on this problem it struck me that here in another form was the “nation of sheep," the "conformist," "the lonely crowd." Have all to many of our institutions in some way, by some mysterious process, lost their identity? Have they lost their original impulse to become what they were intended to be? Do they have a character of their own and do they communicate that character both to the professors and students they profess to regard as their own?
Growing Centralization
Certainly, with the growing centralization of our state institutions this peculiarity of character, of purpose and of basic identity is more apt to be lost than in private institutions. But the vast homogenization of values, of institutions, of men and ideals, of viewpoints and systems seems to be taking place stealthily, but nonetheless surely, in all institutions of society.
To a degree at least, Springfield College has escaped some of these pitfalls.
It doesn't take much time for a stranger, after he has set foot on the Springfield campus, to realize that there is something different here.
Here a point of view is represented.
Here there is an awareness of a philosophy that has been consciously conceived, consciously developed, and consciously communicated.
Here is an institution that has a character, an identity, a mission, a sense of purpose which attracts, sustains, nourishes, and molds individuals. It is not a static character, however, since the institution and its ideals are also actively shaped and molded and developed as well in an on-going process of growth with the changing times. But to be underscored is the fact that even while it changes with various circumstances, the essential philosophy of humanics remains basically unaltered.
In an era of anonymity, it has somehow maintained its identity.
Springfield College has a number of firsts which are unique in higher education. At a time when specialized education was frowned upon, it boldly pointed the way toward specialization while, at the same time, focusing attention on the whole man in a unique way. (A viewpoint, by the way, which should be incorporated by every specialized school. Otherwise we are turning out good stenographers, good mechanics , good athletes, but certainly not good men. There is too much of a tendency to define man in terms of function and not man as man.) It insists upon a liberal education, but is anxious that the knowledge we acquire does not remain in storage in the ivory tower but is translated into action, and real situations. It has constantly held before our eyes the spiritual, intellectual, and physical aspects of man. While other colleges generally give lip service to these facets of man, no other college to my mind tries as hard or achieves as much as Springfield does in this area.
To a large extent, Springfield College is an institution that has escaped the Symplegadean straits of modern man. While the mainstream of intellectual life today gives evidence of anxiety, the fragmented and broken image of man, the man in process and the man who has lost his way in cosmic solitudes, the man whose value systems have caused him to lose his identity and his sense of uniqueness and have robbed him of a purposefulness and meaningfulness in life. Springfield College is turning out men and women with the reverse of these qualities.
An Anxious World
With a world that views itself as anxiety-ridden, caught up in postures of change for change sake, full of tensions and ambiguities, we stand out in sharp relief with our positive image of man and our ideals of spirit, mind, body and service to mankind. For my part, I would like to see this spirit analyzed much more than it has been in order to create more of an awareness of the richness of our humanics philosophy on campus.
Outstanding as these features are, however, there is always the ever-present danger for institutions, as for individuals, that these moments of health will be lost. For both institutions and individuals, the moment is always a living, on-going now, with its perplexities and problems. And unless these problems are resolved, the spirit of the institution can die, even while we retain mottos, Long Range Plans, etc. In a word, the elan vital of the institution becomes mere words, ergo, meaningless.
Someone has said that the two extremes a college must avoid are identification and alienation. Identification comes about when the outside world or the society at large encroaches upon the college to such an extent that we reflect society more than pioneer in it and alter it. Alienation comes about when we lose contact with our fellow men or the society outside and go our separate ways. The institution becomes wrapped up in its own visions so much that it loses contact with society and very soon becomes an anomaly, a curiosity piece.
Although both of these paths are dangerous, the greater danger today comes from identification. Witness the many treatises on conformity, the crowd, the nation of sheep, the organization man, or the automatons in Brave New World as an indication of this.
Identification with Society
Identification with society means, in a word, "going the way of all flesh." It means that the world is shaping us, where we, as a college, should be shaping the world. We become a vehicle for the transmission of knowledge but hardly a vehicle for the transformation of knowledge. We are being fashioned instead of engaged in the fashioning.
(I like to look upon the whole problem as a problem of genesis, or growth. Even while we are trying to absorb the best of a changing society, it would be inconsistent and suicidal not to be aware of the fundamental concepts of man in the college. In this way the problem of identification and alienation can more readily be dissolved.)
It is against this background of identification with society that I urge the college to reconsider its fundamental aims by a re-introduction of the Bachelor of Humanics.
The re-introduction of this degree of Bachelor of Humanics is neither identification nor is it alienation. For at a time when the United States is just beginning to get service-minded and the ideals of the Peace Corps and Vista and Commonwealth Service Corps are very much of the present, this degree would have wide appeal. Today's student more than ever is interested not in money, but in service to man: which is admirably captured in the Bachelor of Humanics.
It is evident to a newcomer on campus that President Doggett wasn't afraid of doing something different. It is evident, too, that he was a man of vision who communicated to this institution his own uniqueness and sense of purpose. He gave it a sense of identity, so badly lacking in today's institutions. If there was reason for rejecting the Bachelor of Humanics years ago because it was misunderstood, we can see, from our vantage point today, that it actually was not so much a far-out as a far-reaching and a pioneering concept. There are more reasons today for re-introducing the Bachelor of Humanics than there were for dropping it in 1926.
If a single degree were given to all our graduates with a detailed specialization, it would go a long way toward unifying our various programs, curriculums and activities, not to mention its meaningfulness for the most central of all concepts at Springfield College, man as man.
Oftentimes in institutions, the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing and, indeed, the various departments sometimes run post-haste in opposite directions. With the Bachelor of Humanics there could be less divergence, less an atmosphere of schizophrenia (institutions also suffer from this) within the various departments and more convergence and a posture of knowing where we are going.
A New Dimension
Another dimension was added to this picture when man looked upon knowledge not only for its own sake but as an instrument for power or control over his environment. This was exemplified by the B.S. degree: a degree designed to instill scientific attitudes into man and make him more aware of his co-creating activity with nature as a controller of nature for progress.
The B.A. represents the idea, the ivory tower, the man of intellect; the B.S. represents action, power, progress, control over nature, the man of action.
Thus a see-saw struggle began which lasts down to the present. The people who think too much (the B.A.) seldom act and the people who act too much (the B.S.) seldom think, to put it negatively.
De facto, if not de jure, the B.A. and the B.S. really merge at many points. Mostly, today's Bachelor of Arts is really a specialist, majoring in a particular area, taught by a specialist as a skill would be taught-- without any reference to man's place in the universe. Our "core" courses, so to speak, are fragmented. We teach the same subject matter in the same manner in a B.S. as well as in a B.A. course --but there should be a difference. And knowledge for knowledge sake doesn't flourish, Images and labels aside, these are really, for the most part, specialized degrees that have lost their true meaningfulness. As for the B.S., it is so "thing-and-material" oriented that we have viewed man primarily as a doer; but failed to look at the well springs of his being: man as man.
The humanics philosophy, also, as it is detailed at Springfield College, is devoted to making man keenly aware of his place in the universe, the world and his community. While Springfield purports to be a specialized college, it also takes into account the whole man--in a manner and to a degree that very few others do. And while its purpose is the sphere of action, there is also a healthy detachment of seeking knowledge for its own sake.
A Specialized College
Paradoxical as it may seem, Springfield College has more of the spirit of the B.A. than the liberal arts colleges themselves. Springfield College is a specialized college which puts its emphasis on the whole man; many liberal arts colleges are supposedly non-specialist, while turning out men who think of themselves more in terms of function than anything else, e.g., a history major, a chemistry major, etc.
In a growing era of specialization, have we at Springfield gone a long way toward solving the relationship between the idea and action, the whole man and the specialist? I would say that we have and I would add further that this message should not be hidden under a bushel.
Confident in our own convictions, I would suggest a re-adoption of the Bachelor of Humanics, as an exemplification of these ideals.
Are we shaping the world or is the world shaping us?
Above all, the spirit of Springfield is designed to transcend institutionalized forms, to look beyond credit hours and grades as such and to focus on man. In this way, we have to some extent broken the patterns of the organization man or the Alphas and the Deltas of Huxley.
It is, perhaps, more for our society than for ourselves that we should introduce the Bachelor of Humanics--if for no other reason, as we are wont to put it, then for the sake of debate, to make men more aware of our Great Society.
In many ways our society has failed to understand the interrelationships within itself and has become entrapped in its own interstices, as far as the most central of all features of our universe is concerned: man himself.
A review of some thinkers indicate this clearly. In one we see men so closely blended into a return to nature that we may wonder if it is a man at all. In another we see a ruthless image with tooth and claw whose sole object is survival. Yet another has proclaimed a loss of reason and another makes man into a good mixer. The tragedy of tragedies in our society is that we in principle, in theory advocate a non-absolutistic, no-fixed principles, relativistic approach to man himself. However fruitful this viewpoint is for the physical world, all the fruit is worthless if it has no meaning for man. This has made for an incoherent, schizophrenic, anxious man divided against himself. As a result of our piecemeal studying, we in principle have eschewed any coherent picture of man. Our tendency to see the part has concealed from our eyes the coherent whole to which he belongs. We tend to fragment, to break nature and man up into pieces and forget man's deeper inter-relations and his measureless horizons. The time has come to include man in his wholeness in a coherent picture of the universe.
We have forgotten, alas, man himself.
In this talk it is asserted that the Bachelor of Arts was indeed commensurate with man's need at that time. But we are no longer spectators looking on the world without or in any ivory tower; we are within the world as participators. With this increasing awareness what was before unconsciously taken as a matter of course, we must now consciously strive for, namely the relationship between the spiritual, intellectual and physical sides of man, not to mention his active-participator role in the world toward his fellow man. I would suggest with Martin Buber that for a long time now there has been an I-it relationship between man and man instead of an I-thou relationship, exemplified by our idea of service to mankind.
Dostoevski remarked that, "it is amazing how we can arrive at more and more parts and it is marvelous how we can be blind to the whole."
The philosophy of humanics as I see it, if not the whole answer to our times at least, is an answer. It is a philosophy that neglects neither the spirit nor the intellect nor the body nor does it omit man as a participator in the unfolding drama of anthropogenesis. It is, furthermore, a viewpoint that consciously takes into account all three relationships of body, mind, and spirit, and the I-thou relationship in service to mankind.
It is against this background that I see the Bachelor of Humanics not something different or dilettantish or fanciful, but as a concept that is brimful, pressed-down and flowing over, rich in possibilities.
The humanics philosophy has enriched the lives of many of us at Springfield College. It has been tested, scrutinized, weighed and reconsidered at various levels of the development of Springfield College and not found wanting. It is time to offer this degree of Bachelor of Humanics as a fitting embodiment of the humanics philosophy to the larger crucible of the open society, not because we think it needs further testing, but because we are firm in our convictions that what we have here is not only ancillary or complementary to our age, but imperative.
It is with this background in mind that I suggest that Springfield College re-introduce the Bachelor of Humanics degree.
A publication, biannually issued by Springfield College, is Springfield College Studies. It summarizes research and publication for each two year period at the College. In the 1973 edition, Dr. Emery W. Seymour, Director of the Division of Graduate Studies and Coordinator of Research, published an introductory essay on a relationship not typically envisioned, namely, "Research and the Humanics philosophy".
RESEARCH AND THE HUMANICS PHILOSOPHY
by
Emery W. Seymour
Only in a Springfield College publication might one come upon a discussion of a topic such as listed above. All colleges of any consequence claim research of varying types as integral to their operation. Humanics, on the other hand, is distinctly a Springfield College term, and even more distinctly, a Springfield College characteristic or, in today's terminology, a life style. Sometimes hard to define or describe to non-Springfield College persons (and at times even to on-campus personnel), the Humanics Philosophy has been studied in greatest depth by Dr. Seth Arsenian, a former Professor of Psychology, Director of Graduate Studies and Distinguished Professor of Humanics during a long and productive career at Springfield College. The August 1969 publication, "The Humanics Philosophy of Springfield College," which was edited by Dr. Arsenian provides numerous takeoff points for observation within this presentation and is required reading for anyone wishing to understand Springfield College. (2)
As set forth in the preface of the above work
To build men, one must know man. Out of this conviction there developed the concept of Humanics - a set of ideas, values and goals which through several metamorphoses became the accepted philosophy of education at Springfield College, It is because of this philosophy that the College believes itself to be distinct and different from other colleges. It is around this philosophy that the college administration, faculty, students and alumni join in a cooperative effort to move toward commonly sought goals. It is by focusing on this philosophy that there develops on its campus a college community which, in open communication, makes communion and commitment possible. (2:i)
A number of attributes or distinctive properties have been ascribed to the Humanics Philosophy, some of which may be of greater consequence than others and warrant more mention at this time. Starting with the term "Humanics," it is readily recognized that here is a philosophy, and approach toward education, where man is central and knowledge as it is acquired and transmitted is of consequence, not in and of itself, but as it may be utilized for the betterment of man. Not only is man the focal point in such an approach, but it is man in his entirety to whom Springfield College turns its attention. When the trustees in 1891 adopted Luther H. Gulick's emblem of the inverted equilateral triangle enclosed by a circle, they were endorsing Gulick's statement that "The triangle stands not for the body or mind or spirit, but for the man as a whole...It stands for the symmetrical man..."
Another term intimately associated with Humanics is that of service. The current undergraduate catalog speaks of"... a motivation of service to humanity that is international, intercultural, interracial and interreligious." (6.7) In this connection, the words of Arsenian are most appropriate.
The use of the word service, with its frequent repetition in advertisements in the mass media, has become a word of uncertain virtue; but its meaning as used by the founders of the College had a very serious and solemn connotation. It means the using of one's skill and knowledge to make life abundant for self and others. In other words, service refers to a moral conviction and commitment to increase, enhance and affirm life for all men. Rather than use the power that emanates from knowledge for self-aggrandizement, it will be used to build man and to increase his stature as a human being. (2.27)
Again in Arsenian's words,"...Springfield College is, in a way, a specialized college, centering its specialization in teaching skills and understandings and in increasing knowledge in the areas of human service vocations." (2:28) Thus, Humanics is frequently described as "Education of the whole man in the service of all men."
Consistent with the holistic approach to man is the principle of integration whereby narrow specialization is discouraged, interrelationships among fields of study are recognized and joint undertakings are promoted, and where classroom and field work experiences are coordinated in a manner designed to make a Springfield College education functional and pragmatic. In the artificial dichotomy of "pure" versus "applied," the Humanics Philosophy inclines toward the latter and "...insists that the value of ideas must be tested by their consequences in action." (Arsenian, 1:2)
Additional components worthy of mention include emphasis on man's assets and potentialities rather than on deficiencies and shortcomings; immersion of the College in the local or the larger human community; an international outreach whereby students from foreign lands have studied here and Springfield College students have acquired a portion of their preparation in other lands; and a concern for the freedom of the teacher as a seeker of truth with the ability to interpret that truth as he conceives it. Lastly, there has been within this philosophy a respect for students with open communication channels and mutual respect for each other a part of student relations with faculty and other College personnel. (Arsenian, 1:6-9)
Having offered at least a partial description of Humanics, the writer turns to an examination of research and from there, hopefully, to a connection whereby the two are seen in combination. As a starting point, it seems in order to comment that both in pronunciation and in practice, the emphasis in the word research is on the second syllable. Accordingly, any institution or group or individual is, or should be, constantly engaged in a search and a re-search out of which knowledge will be both obtained and utilized.
Definitions of research may be found in profusion and each reader undoubtedly has a personal definition of the term to which he subscribes. One which has proved to be helpful to the writer was offered by Dr. Peter V. Karpovich, now Research Professor of Physiology Emeritus and long-time faculty member of Springfield College. In speaking with a group of doctoral students and faculty members, he said "Research is following your curiosity in an organized way." If a person considers this statement carefully, he can gain much from it. Following one's curiosity means that he needs initially to be well prepared by way of instruction and experience. By and large, one becomes curious in those areas wherein he has developed interests. Correspondingly, interest is greater in matters where some degree of expertness has been acquired.
Not only does research call for the pursuit of one's curiosity, but this is to be done in an organized way. Hit or miss methods of investigation, chance observations, and intuition are not research even though one may be curious about a problem he has uncovered. The careful study of previous investigations, establishment of controls, unbiased collection of data, appropriate analysis of the evidence and intelligent drawing of conclusions certainly are consistent with the latter half of the definition which calls for "an organized way."
Points of view concerning research differ in degree if not in kind with the frequently employed terms of pure or basic research on the one hand and applied research on the other representing seemingly different approaches toward the function of research. Today, few people advocate the "pure" approach if by it there is implied not only no apparent application and utilization but, even further, no attempt to translate findings to that end. At the same time, it is evident that research functions optimally where a minimum of restrictions is set forth and where investigators are free to pursue inquiries which for the moment simply answer previously unanswered questions but which at a later time may be "applied" in the direct resolution of problems and amelioration of conditions.
Within the report prepared by Springfield College for the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education is found the following statement: "In general, Springfield College faculty is identified much more as a teaching faculty in extensive, direct contact with students than as a faculty committed to research or theoretical experimentation." (8:36) In addressing this topic, Arsenian commented in similar fashion, saying:
...education at Springfield College centers on teaching more than research. While research is encouraged and facilitated, especially on the graduate level, it is at the same time made clear that research should enrich and improve a professor's teaching rather than become a hindrance to his work in relation to his students. (2:33)
In a note to a faculty member, Springfield College President Wilbert E. Locklin wrote:
The qualitative and quantitative demands upon higher education at the undergraduate as well as graduate levels compel a college to attend advances in the discipline and these necessarily are research-related. I would hope we could encourage research on the part of every faculty member for his sake, for the sake of his students, for the sake of his field, and for the sake of his college. Properly construed, that research can augment rather than jeopardize his teaching opportunity.
It should be obvious, then, that, in keeping with the Humanics Philosophy, "publish or perish" provisions affecting retention and promotion; faculty member off-campus research involvement responding to governmental or industrial inducements with teaching and student contact playing incidental or nonexistent roles; and accompanying practices of graduate student teaching fellows given complete responsibility for classroom functions, are alien to the spirit and practice of Springfield College. If the objective of an institution is more effective instruction, certainly one of the ways of accomplishment is faculty research involvement. In the words of a senior Springfield College faculty member:
I believe research is an important function for any scientist teaching at the college level. There is an intellectual stimulation and an understanding of the nature of science which cannot be gained in any other way. There is a much deeper appreciation of the pace of change in scientific knowledge and methodology. There is the self-confidence which comes from contributing to the advance of knowledge. And, quite important, students demonstrate an increased respect for, and confidence in, a faculty member who is an active participant in, as well as a narrator of, the scientific process.
For longer than a decade, a General Research Fund has been administered through the Committee on Graduate Study to demonstrate in a very real way the support of the College for research involvement on the part of members of the faculty and administration. The first two guidelines concerning applications to this fund refer to its purpose as being scholarly study of a problem by means of research with the nature of the research being given wide interpretation and specify that the problem to be investigated be relevant to the College's purposes, its curriculum and its problems. Through such assistance, many faculty members have been able to engage in investigations of particular personal interest and with application to performance of their College teaching. In several instances, the aid provided has stimulated sufficient activity with resultant evidence of value to motivate outside sources to provide substantial additional funds. The Fund has demonstrated that the College is ready to grant support for the things for which it stands. When the Faculty Personnel Policy states: "It is recognized that Springfield College as an educational institution has a teaching function, a research or knowledge-expanding function, and a community service function. A member of the faculty shares these functions," (7: Article 2:c) the College responds by providing, to the extent of its resources, the means whereby the faculty member will be enabled to fulfill the above-mentioned functions.
In an address to Springfield College students many years ago, Dr. Laurence L. Doggett, President of the College from 1896 to 1936, gave direction to research of that day and of the present when he suggested: "Find out the problem of your generation, and with God's guidance help solve it."(Arsenian, 1:14)
In Maslow's "Motivation and Personality," this statement by Einstein and Infield is found:
The formulation of a problem is far more often essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skill. To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science. (5:18)
As indicated in the two previous citations, meaningful research of necessity has its origin in meaningful topics for investigation. The identification and delineation of consequential areas of study require highly skilled and experienced individuals who play a major role in the acquisition of knowledge and whose involvement in the research process is of at least equal importance to that of the data gatherers and analysts. In an institution guided by the philosophy of Humanics, it is important that the problems for study be related to man and to man's improvement of self and of society. In "The Humanics Philosophy of Springfield College," Arsenian stated:
The implication of the Humanics concept for research is that characteristically our research concerns itself with man and his relations and that in this research man, the subject, should not be treated as an impersonal object, that be himself can be part of the search. Research should not and need not be limited to quantitative methods and statistical devices which treat man as a mere average, as impersonal data, as an object merely to be observed and measured from outside. The feeling, the thinking, the imagining, the meaning, the goals of men, should, in one way or another, enter the research process and make it sensible not only to the researcher but also to men and women who are subjects of the study. As we redirect our research efforts in the direction indicated, our research will be more and more in harmony with the Humanics philosophy of Springfield College. (2:61)
Maslow takes a very similar position to that above and says:
A psychological interpretation of science begins with the acute realization that science is a human creation, rather than an autonomous, nonhuman, or per se "thing" with intrinsic rules of its own. Its origins are in human motives, its goals are human goals, and it is created, renewed, and maintained by human beings. Its laws, organization, and articulations rest not only on the nature of the reality that it discovers, but also on the nature of the human nature that does the discovering. The psychologist, especially if he has had any clinical experience, will quite naturally and spontaneously approach any subject matter in a personal way by studying people, rather than the abstractions they produce, scientists as well as science. (5:l)
The manner whereby problems are approached and investigated and the analysis of evidence are seen by many as dependent upon the nature of the problem. Consequently, there are those who contend that much research which is human orientated mistakenly enjoys methodology which has demonstrated its value and effectiveness within the physical sciences. For example, Maslow has observed:
...we have the tendency among many psychologists and social scientists to imitate old techniques (those of the physical and life sciences) rather than to create and invent the new ones made necessary by the fact that their degree of development, their problems, and their data are intrinsically different from those of the physical sciences. (5:15)
The laws of human psychology and of nonhuman nature are in some respects the same, but are in some respects utterly different...Wishes, fears, dreams, hopes, all behave differently from pebbles, wires, temperatures or atoms. A philosophy is not constructed in the same way as a bridge. (5:7)
What, then, of research in an institution dedicated to Humanics? Can one "follow his curiosity in an organized way" when studying man? Is the very concept of research as suggested earlier antithetical to the study of man because of the stress on objectivity, quantification and generalization? To the writer, the answer is and must be that the most meaningful and the most difficult research is that which relates to man in terms of his other than physical attributes. He takes issue with those who contend that the general procedures of the physical sciences are inappropriate for social science research. It is recognized that man is not inanimate as are the pebbles and wires mentioned previously and that he is an individual with individual characteristics, aspirations and variations. At the same time, a study of man, as man, takes on greater value to the extent that generalizations and their accompanying applications become possible. Because of the existent inadequacies in measurement, there is great difficulty in the quantification of what are essentially qualitative variables with conclusions usually couched in qualified terms. The task, it would appear, is to advance the presently crude yardsticks and tape measures to much more sophisticated instrumentation appropriate for measurement of the variables under study to the end that more valid data may be derived. While there is full acceptance of Arsenian's words "Perhaps the greatest contribution of the College will be in devising and teaching ways to bring changes in man's attitudes, values and perceptions," (2:111-112) it seems logical to demand that, before these ways which have been devised are actually taught, they be tested in a number of appropriately controlled settings to have some assurance that attitudes, values and perceptions actually will be favorably affected by them.
In summary, research is not only compatible with the Humanics Philosophy; it is essential within such a philosophy. There is so much to be learned about man and procedures for discovering the unknown are still in the formative stages. The challenge to all is clearly illustrated by Maslow's observation "Surely, anyone who had read and understood the history of science would not dare to speak of an unsolvable problem; he would speak only of problems which had not yet been solved." (5:16) To the student or faculty member for whom the Humanics Philosophy provides motivation and direction, may he remain constantly alert and inquisitive, responsive to conditions surrounding him, and capable of recognizing and defining significant problems. May he have the preparation, the skill, and the necessary techniques, instrumentation, and subjects so that a meaningful design may be developed and implemented from which valid evidence bearing on the problem may be acquired. Finally, may he have the wisdom to interpret properly that which has been obtained and the perceptiveness and persistence to see that the addition to wisdom may be applied to the greater good of mankind.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Arsenian, Seth. "The Meaning of Humanics . " Paper presented to Springfield College Faculty, January 1967.
2. Arsenian, Seth (ed .) The Humanics Philosophy of Springfield College. Springfield, Mass. : Springfield College, 1969.
3. Doggett, Laurence Locke. Man and a School. New York: Association Press, 1943.
4. Hall, Lawrence K. Doggett of Springfield. Springfield, Mass. : Springfield College, 1964.
5. Maslow Abraham, Motivation and Personality. 2nd Ed. New York: Harper and Row, 1970.
6. Springfield College. 1973 -74 Undergraduate Catalog.
7. Springfield College. Faculty Personnel Policy. May 1972.
8. Springfield College. NCATE Report. Fall 1972.
The third Distinguished Springfield Professor of Humanics was Dr. Charles F. Weckwerth, who held the position for three years from 1972 to 1975. In his first report, he offered a few autobiographical reflections during which the faculty settled back to listen to what they expected, an account of how this man, so identified with the Humanics idea, and with Springfield College and its history, developed. These initial paragraphs came, however, to an abrupt close after only a few minutes of speaking time and Dr. Weckwerth announced a research project to identify the central agreement among various groups on the meaning of Humanics.
During his second year of the Distinguished Professorship, Dr. Weckwerth developed an extremely comprehensive and, to the casual viewer, highly complex paradigm of the interrelationship of the elements that make up the concept of Humanics. It was his expressed opinion, after projecting this work on a screen and explaining it as his second report to the faculty, that this presentation elicited from the faculty considerably more courtesy than understanding. He knew there had to be another way to get at the essence of Humanics for interpretive purposes.
At the great risk of doing disservice to Dr. Weckwerth's second presentation, the Editor attempts in the following pages and comments to summarize, rather than reproduce, the work.
An historical review, with illustrated quotations from the patriarchs of the college indicating the major concepts in the philosophy of education which came to be known, at Springfield College, as Humanics, led to a series of slides projected on the screen. Each succeeding slide added a complexity implied, but not illustrated, in the previous one. The introductory slides were an attempt to convey the concept of universality. Then a series numbered one through six built up the Humanics idea step by step. Marginal comments illustrated the methods and some of the leading personalities involved in the build-up.
1. The 380 degrees of a compass illustrates the wholeness of the person the College aspired to develop.
2. The circle above appears again with superimposed square divided into four smaller squares representing the four-fold aim of the YMCA, that is, the development of young men intellectually, spiritually, physically, and socially.
3. The circle again appears. This time it is an inverted triangle which is superimposed. Its sides represent spirit, mind, and body. (This may indicate the beginning of an assumption long held by one faction of the Progressive Education Movement, namely, that if you make better individuals, society will be better -- Editor.)
4. Again the square divided in quarters is superimposed on the circle. This time the classroom concerns, as distinct from those other teaching areas, the gyms and the playing fields, are shown. Religious education, biology, sociology, and psychology were considered fundamental.
5. The circle is now seen with a rectangle superimposed upon it. Divisions and labels within the rectangle reveal the views then current with regard to the appropriate proportions of general to professional education as the would be whole man progresses year by year in college.
6. A new form, the star, illustrates the late 1950's and 1960's in the curricular evaluation seeking the most appropriate education for the whole man. The circle again represents wholeness. The points of the star indicate; men's communicative skills, man in meaning, man in nature, man in movement, and man in society. Studies in each of these categories in appropriate proportions became the way Humanics was implemented.
None of these developments was incompatible with any other, nor distinct in time and space, neither were clusters of personalities related exclusively with only one distinct step along the way. Humanics as it was by the time Dr. Weckwerth reported, for the second time, as Distinguished Springfield Professor of Humanics, was the sum total of all these steps and much more not included in this Editor's summary nor even by Dr. Weckwerth himself, a diagrammed estimate of the sum, however, was attempted in one of the last slides. It looked something like the illustration below except here all the labels and marginal comment have been omitted.
It may be that more understanding is apt to come from the attempt to explain this philosophy through one's own development of diagram than through study of an existing one. Perhaps the lines and spaces in the unlabeled version of Dr. Weckwerth's diagram can be labeled by the reader in accordance with the study of the various papers in this collection, including the diagrams by Dr. Weckwerth appearing on previous pages. In his third year as Humanics Professor, Dr. Weckwerth and a colleague, Dr. Barbara Jensen, did a pilot study on the Image of Humanics at Springfield College? They developed a semantic differential instrument based upon the research technique of Charles E. Osgood, of the University of Illinois. The use of their trial instrument gave results which were compatible with casual observation; namely, that differences in feelings about what Humanics means, and implications thereof, do not differ significantly among various groups, such as alumni, faculty, Trustees, male, female, young, old, which have had some kind of committed relationship to Springfield College.
Dr. Weckwerth's third report to the faculty, not reproduced here, was upon the pilot study. Now retired, Dr. Weckwerth has greatly refined his pilot instrument and seeks funding for a far more definitive attempt to identify a widely agreed upon meaning of humanics.
1. Charles F. Weckwerth & Barbara E. Jensen -- A Report on a Pilot Study of the Image of Humanics at Springfield College; Springfield College, Springfield, Massachusetts, 1976
The fourth man to have the title of Distinguished Springfield Professor of Humanics was Rev. Holmes N. VanDerbeck. "Van" had enjoyed a long career at Springfield on the religion faculty and at one time or another as Director of Student Activities, as Chaplain, and as advisor of classes, among other assignments. He sees Humanics as a practical action kind of philosophy . His address to the faculty reflects this emphasis.
HUMANICS IS LIKE . . . . .
Holmes N . VanDerbeck
Distinguished Professor of Humanics
Springfield College
Springfield, Massachusetts
April 6, 1976
Charles E. Silvia, when approached with the idea of his appointment to the Distinguished Springfield Professorship of Humanics, wanted to think it over. His long and distinguished career had been in physical education and, though scientifically-based, was most visible in its practical applications. His reaction was, "I thought that honor was for philosopher types like Arsenian and Weckwerth."
The dean's response was, The college stands for humanics. There are thousands of alumni who identify you, first and foremost, with the college. They are beneficiaries, over the decades, of your application of the humanics concept as you understood and understand it, even though, for many of those years, the term was not used as frequently and self-consciously as we have been doing lately. Why not talk about how a person gets to be a kind of person who spends his whole professional career in a pursuit which is never calculated to bring the material rewards of the same effort in another profession or vocation?"
In a few days, Professor Silvia accepted the title and the responsibility. In the spring of 1977, he displayed, for the faculty, his research into his own family tree in a response to the question posed by the dean at the time of the appointment.
IS THE HUMANICS PHILOSOPHY A MYTH?
CHARLES E. SILVIA
DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR OF HUMANICS
SPRINGFIELD COLLEGE
SPRINGFIELD, MASS.
APRIL 12, 1977
September 1966
DISTINGUISHED SPRINGFIELD PROFESSOR OF HUMANICS
SPRINGFIELD COLLEGE
Name
Year
Discipline
Dr. Seth Arsenian
1966-1967
Psychology
1967-1968
1968-1969
Dr. Harry H. Giles
1970-1971
Human Relations
1971-1972
Dr. Charles Weckwerth
1972-1973
Recreation
1973-1974
1974-1975
Mr. Holmes VanDerbeck
1975-1976
Religion
Mr. Charles Silvia
1976-1978
Health, Physical Education and Recreation
IS THE HUMANICS PHILOSOPHY A MYTH?
In view of the creeping erosion of moral and ethical values in recent years, there is growing concern on the part of young and old alike that the Humanics Philosophy is in jeopardy.
We are familiar with the history of Man's inhumanity to Man with no end in sight as we witness the continuing struggle for human rights. We are confused by the rapidity of social change and puzzled by how far changes in moral attitudes should extend.
Moral disintegration results in crimes of violence and subsequent threat to the safety and sanity of all law abiding citizens. We share in the growing anxiety about the future of our economy, racial discord, conflicting political philosophies and loss of faith in leadership.
The mounting hysteria on all levels of competitive athletics has dulled our sensitivities to the true values of participation. Recruiting practices are both manipulative and exploitative of young athletes. The need to reevaluate the materialistic goals that are driving us towards uncontrollable excess is paramount.
Are we becoming a society of rules and regulations that govern our lives to the smallest detail? Sharp curtailment of individual choice and judgment is seen as government power increases. Dr. Saul Mendlovitz, Director of the World Order Models Project (known as W.O.M.P.) contends that there
_________
"is no longer a question of whether or not there will be world government by the year 2000. The questions are how it will come into being (cataclysm, drift, more or less rational design), and whether it will be totalitarian, benign, or participatory (the possibilities being in that order."4
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Have we reached the state where we have no shared values recognized as inherent in human nature or in the human community? Has everything become a question of subjective self-interest and cynical manipulation?
We are confronted with the need for moral conversion and the strength and conviction to rekindle our belief in the human values of basic decency, integrity and conscience. ____
Why do some people decide on a Humanics career?
Are there any identifiable reasons?
Why did I decide on such a career?
Are there any answers in the past? Eugene O'Neill once said:
__"There is no present or future, only the past happening again and again, now."
I arrived on the Springfield College campus in September 1930, accompanied by my mother and father. This was my first visit to the campus. I knew only one classmate, Cal Martin, no coaches, no faculty, no admission interview. I had decided two years before that Springfield College was my first and only choice through contacts I had had with two Springfield College alumni. I knew I wanted to be a teacher-coach.
My father, as a part time game warden, the depression along with millions of others had collapsed our fragile economic structure, had visited the Springfield College campus and his report was far from encouraging. The campus was small, with unimpressive buildings, sparse grass fields and indiscriminate parking areas. His assessment, however, had little impact on my decision to prepare for a career in physical education.
My memory is clear as I recall my father parking our 1922 Packard touring car, with my trunk strapped on the rear rack, after a long trip from Haverill, Mass. My mother, who was to die two years later of cancer of the breast, and I entered Alumni Hall to check in with my classmates. It was then I knew I had made no mistake, for I was to meet the first of several outstanding men, who were to shape my career these past forty-three years. Britton McCabe, then acting Dean of Freshman, captivated my mother with his sincerity and remarkable skill with the identification process.
Throughout my undergraduate years, I was privileged to study with men of singleness of purpose that is indelibly imprinted in my mind. There were two wonderful women, Mrs. Hickox and Mrs. Judd, who are remembered with affection and respect. These dedicated men and women, who were underpaid, had the unique capacity to guide our young minds in the realization of our own specific powers.
My good fortune, as an undergraduate, included an active role in student government. Student leaders had the opportunity to exercise considerable influence over student activities in the typical emotional, uninformed fashion. As President of the Student Association, as it was called in those days, I was privy to information, not accessible to the student body. I will not forget my distress and opposition to the Student Cabinet's efforts to reduce the expense of the inadequately funded intercollegiate program. This exercise in idiocy, included questioning the Athletic Director's personal living expenses, with the goal in mind to reduce his salary. Such presumptuousness fortunately was opposed by the majority.
Tuition in those days was $300 per year with practically unlimited course options when the academic index permitted. Consequently, some of us graduated with 140 semester hours or more. With the meager financial resources available, Dr. Doggett and his staff were hard pressed to keep the good ship "Springfield" afloat.
My mind drifted into history as I walked away from Apsley House, the Duke of Wellington's home at 1 Piccadilly, London. My maternal great grandfather, who was born in Wales, was, according to our family history, one of Wellington's soldiers at Waterloo. He was only 16 when Napoleon's legions were defeated in that historic battle. Later my wife and I were to travel to Boppard in Germany, on the Rhine, where he had settled with his German wife. While in Boppard, we were to find in the town hall, my grandfather's birth certificate, which established his father's age and occupation as a day labourer; a discovery far beyond our highest expectations.
The Duke of Wellington called his foot soldiers, "the scum of the earth, enlisted for drink." hardly a statement of social concern. The British army was a natural haven for destitute, friendless and fugitive youths, who after a few weeks drill were considered ready for combat duty. When, in April 1814, Napoleon had been sent into exile on the island of Elba, Wellington's well trained army had been disbanded or scattered to the East, Ireland and America. While I stood on the field of Waterloo, only two miles long and two-thirds of a mile across, where 73,000 French and 67,000 British and their allies were to meet on Sunday, June 18, 1815, I wondered how my great grandfather survived the ferocious battle, the scene of great courage crass errors of leadership and startling cowardice. What kind of a person was he? What were his expectations? What were his choices? Questions without answer, except through conjecture.
J. H. Jacques describes the fantastic speed of social change in the past 200 years.
____
"Nineteen-sixty five differs more radically from 1765 than 1765 differs from 55 B.C. Dr. Johnson would have been more at home in the world of Abraham than in the 20th century. The unprecedented technical transformation has changed the whole structure of social life, and sometimes openly and brutally with all the violence of revolution and war."6
____
My great grandfather's life is almost incomprehensible to me, but maybe his service in the British army created some social awareness for his son, left his home in Boppard as a young man to escape military conscription. He settled in Canada where he married my grandmother, a woman of sturdy character and perception, whose parents were Scotch, although she was born in Ireland. Together they shed their old world identity and were reborn to a new life with an unbounded capacity to imitate and adopt this new way of living.
My father's parents were born in the Azores, a group of nine islands, in the North Atlantic Ocean, colonized by the Portuguese. My grandfather came to the United States in his middle teens and settled near New Bedford. Later he shipped out as a member of the crew on a whaler for a two year cruise. I recall his stories of this whaling voyage that included a landing for provisions and water on the coast of Africa. He became a harpooner in one of the small boats, that was lowered from the deck of the whaler whenever the look out sighted the tell tale spouts of a pod. It was a grisly and dangerous task for the small boat had to be rowed into close proximity of these huge mammals.
It was his duty to steer the boat until they were close enough to the whale for him to move forward into the bow in preparation to throwing the heavy harpoon. The harpoon was attached to a heavy line, coiled in tubs and wrapped around a post firmly anchored to the bottom of the boat. He would throw the harpoon at a spot just behind the head where the harpoon would penetrate the chest cavity and cause a massive hemorrhage. The shock of the harpoon would cause the whale to swim away from this terrifying insult, causing such friction on the post that the line would smoke, requiring repeated cooling douses of sea water. Eventually, the whale would tire and they could pull alongside to finish the kill with thrusts from lances.
On one occasion my grandfather harpooned a whale that immediately sounded and surfaced near his boat, striking the boat with its massive flukes, smashing it into kindling and throwing the men into the water. Although the blood from the wounded whale attracted sharks, the sharks attacked the whale and the men were picked up by the other boats unscathed.
Another harpooned whale towed my grandfather and his crew miles away from the mother ship, a true "Nantucket Sleigh Ride." Whales have been accurately timed at 27 knots and may exceed that speed. After two days they had about given up hope of seeing the mother ship again and had set a course for the coast of Africa, when she appeared on the horizon. Ivan Sanderson, in his book, "Follow the Whale," tells the story of
____
"an 800 horse power catcher that harpooned an 80 foot Blue Whale which then proceeded to tow the catcher, whose engine was running full speed astern, a distance of 50 miles at speeds up to eight knots." 9
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My grandfather was repelled by this senseless killing and never shipped out again. Farley Mowat in his powerful book, "A Whale for the Killing," says:
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"If the whales are to survive, mankind must declare and enforce a world-wide moratorium on the killing of all and any whales. Such a respite must be of at least ten years duration."9
____
Humanics is not only confined to humankind.
My father who was delivered by his father on his farm in Dartmouth, Mass., enlisted in the Sea Bees as MM 1st class in World War II at the age of 49. Actually he was 55. There was no record of his birth in the church parish, so when he decided to enlist, he secured a birth certificate from the parish priest that listed his age as 49, 1 year under the age limit. He must have been the oldest Sea Bee in the service and of course he could never make up the 6 years after his discharge.
I remember his letter asking for a pair of basketball knee pads that he could wear under his fatigues, because he was bruising his knees crawling through the combat course. His letter, full of pride, about the young Marine sergeant who had returned from Guadalcanal, was how his instructor in bayonet drill, had complimented him on his proficiency with the bayonet. Apparently, he had hacked down an acre and half of underbrush during training. In his hands a bayonet was like a letter opener. I am puny in comparison.
On D Day, September 19, 1945, his battalion went ashore in Iwo Jima with the Marine assault waves. He was to, receive a battlefield commendation for repairing damaged tractors, under artillery and mortar fire on Yellow Beaches. He worked long hours, night and day, repairing other valuable equipment, essential to the combat Marines. He drank two canteens of water and ate only the chocolate in the C rations during the first five days. He was then 57. He was a patriot. This curious blending of old world heritage is typical of many family genealogies.
After a year of graduate study I needed a job. In 1935 there were few opportunities for a teacher-coach regardless of professional competency. After considerable searching, I was hired as a teacher-coach at New Hampton School, New Hampton, N.H., where I had been a student prior to attending Springfield College. I was to teach Physical Geography, Commercial Geography, Business Math and Biology every day, every week. In addition, I was to coach soccer, basketball and baseball in season. During my spare time I was trainer for the football team. For these duties I was paid $500 in ten equal payments. There was no retirement fund, nor major medical. The fringe benefits included meals for my wife and me and a small apartment in return for supervision of a group of students.
My second year showed an increase in salary to $750. My fantasies at this time included the hope that some day-1 would earn the princely sum of $50 per week, In 1937 I returned to Springfield College at the invitation of Dr. Cureton and Dr. Best for two years, which has been extended to forty years. My salary was $1800 for the academic year. It was several years before I achieved my cherished goal of $50 per week.
Our hopes and expectations were small for we were conditioned by the forces of our time as we are being conditioned by the power structure today. It was James Madison, who in the Virginia Convention of 1788 said:
"I believe there are more instances of abridgment of the freedom of people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent unsurpations."3
There is need to blunt the hedonistic revolution that has expudiated and ridiculed the fundamental virtues of honesty, thrift, modesty in personal consumption, sexual self-restraint and fidelity in marriage.
To quote Fred Gladstone Bratton:
"In spite of the instability of the times - and because of it - the business of Springfield College remains constant: to develop men and women with taste, sound judgment, and perspective, combining skill with a sense of values; freedom with moral responsibility; men and women who see the difference between the means by which we live and the ends for which we live; whose goal is excellence; and who aim to follow truth to wisdom."
In closing I am reminded of the poignant line by Anne Morrow Lindberg:
"Him that I love, I wish to be free, even from me."
That too is Humanics.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Arsenian, Seth (Edited by) The Humanics Philosophy of Springfield College. Springfield, Mass.: Springfield College, 1969.
2. Cronon, Vincent, Napoleon, Bungay, Suffolk: The Chaucer Press Ltd., 1971.
3. Evans, Medford, "Southern Politics." American Opinion, 20: 21-30, April 1977. 4. Hoar, William P., "The New World Order." American Opinion. 20: 13-20, April 1977.
5. Howarth, David, Waterloo: A Near Run Thing. Glasgow: William Collins Sons & Co., 1968.
6. Jacques, J.H., The Right and the Wrong. London: William Clowes and Sons, 1965.
7. Lachouque, Henry, Waterloo London: Arms and Armour Press, 1972.
8. Longford, Elizabeth, Wellington: The Years of the Sword. Bungay, Suffolk: The Chaucer Press, 1969.
9. Mowat, Farley, A Whale for the Killing. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1972.
10. Mueller, Gustav E., Education Limited Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1949
Professor Silvia's second Humanic's Report makes a connection between unprincipled athletic management and coaching practices and the decline of principle in the society generally. He calls upon educators of the whole man to cling to principle even when this does not serve as a reflection of society. Here follows, "Red" Silvia's heartfelt parting shot on the eve of his retirement.
HUMANICS AND ATHLETICS AND OTHER CONCERNS
CHARLES E. SILVIA
DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR OF HUMANICS
SPRINGFIELD COLLEGE
SPRINGFIELD, MASS.
MAY 11, 1978
Professor Silvia's reports marked the conclusion of one decade of the attempt to re-examine the philosophy of humanics by asking impactful practitioners to try to express what they had internalized and, in accordance with their feelings and beliefs about it, had integrated into their behavior. This process of trying to bring the essence of humanics, from the inside out, should not be expected to suggest any note of finality. A beneficial impact upon the human condition requires different expressions of humane motivation from time to time. A forecast of the future of the effort may be taken from a poem by H. H. Giles, the second Distinguished Professor of Humanics:
MAN, WONDERING
At first, I don't suppose
They put enough together
To have wonder.
What do gorillas ponder?
Fear and frustration,
Feeling good when fed,
Warm in the sun, -
All the sensations
That flood in and out -
These they must have,
But what remains?
Late, late, in the life of men
Come ways to remember
And with these
The puzzles grew
Until one day
Someone said,
What is the truth?
And all humanity
Went coursing off,
Bound to discover
Truth.
Much later -
Jesting Pilate time -
It dawned on some
That maybe we cannot assume
That certainty.
Lone, lone, and longing
Man !
Lost in the infinite
Yearns for the absolute
And when it is not found,
Asserts it.
When it is shattered,
When lamps are broken
And the golden bowl
Lies useless in the dust
The terror comes.
It is more terrible than death
To live
Without a meaning.
Why not accept
The human need?
Why not create
And try the riches of our thought?
A way,
A thousand million ways,
Subject to change,
Subject to exaltation
When one single gain is made -
New ways perceived,
Old treasures valued
When now insight
Can reveal
Their longer worth?
Let us make meaning
How we can!
Let us live for it
Making new each moment
Breathless, almost
In our eagerness to find,
Learning what it can mean
To be a man.
H. H. Giles

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HUMANICS
INSIDE OUT IN WRITING
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Editor
Paul U. Congdon
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Authors
Seth Arsenian
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H. H. Giles
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Sean O'Connor
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Emery W. Seymour
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Charles F. Weckwerth
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Holmes N. Vanderbeck
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Charles E. Silvia
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Humanics;
Inside Out in Writing
A small college sabbatical proposal in the mid sixties included a plan to visit thirty colleges and pose to administrators and faculty the question, "What is the educational philosophy of this institution"? The proposal was approved, the sabbatical granted, the colleges visited, and the question asked. Results were of two types. Most personnel were unable to encapsulate any philosophy represented by the college which employed them. They responded with vague mention of dedication to excellence, preparation for graduate work, and teaching people to think. Those few who were able to give a philosophy which held together in some logical way appeared, to judge by conflicting responses of others in the same college, to be enunciating their personal philosophies without regard to consensus within the institution.
The following essays comprise part of an effort by administration and faculty of one college to stay honest with relation to the established philosophy of that college, humanics.
The first Distinguished Professor of Humanics was Dr. Seth Arsenian. His appointment was for the expressed purpose of catalyzing a renewal of consciousness of philosophy of humanics. This would be followed up by continuous examination of the implications of pedagogy, for curriculum, for management, for recruitment, and for placement and community impact. For this reason Dr. Arsenian in 1967 first addressed the faculty with; The Meaning of Humanics. It was the first of what became a series of attempts by various faculty to report out to their peers what they had been acting out, they believed, for years, namely, an internalized version of a philosophy of humanics. The yearly reports to faculty, the books and articles that followed, became additional routes by which to bring expressions of philosophy from inside out in writing,
The Meaning of Humanics
by
Seth Arsenian, Ph.D. , Distinguished Springfield
Professor of Humanics
January, 1967
Having set the stage, in his report on the meaning of the humanics philosophy, for future reports which could range from more theory to highly practical application, Dr. Arsenian, in his 1968 report, Changes in Attitudes and Values During the Four Years of College, described a study he had done. It was a study, as its title indicates, which was an especially appropriate activity for a professor exploring the implications of an education based consciously in the humanics. The report is not reproduced here, but the editor presumes to highlight it as follows:
1. Students entering as freshmen in 1958 and 1959 and continued to graduation in 1962 and 1963, were tested on values and questioned on attitudes and opinions upon entering and just prior to graduation.
2. The study added to the evidence that the contention, which once predominated, that students were usually graduated with the same values as those with which they entered, is false.
3. It indicated, for the population studied, little or no change in economic and political values, but appreciable positive changes in theoretical and aesthetic value. These were somewhat at the expense of social and religious values which changed negatively.
4. The report included discussions of some of the pedagogical, and humane implications of the knowledge that values are altered during college years and that some of the influence causing the change is college- sponsored. The subliminal curriculum, rather than the explicit one, seems emphasized in this discussion. The overarching implication, of course, is that if we are able consciously to alter values, the immensity of our responsibility towards society, through those individuals in it who are touched directly or indirectly by our influence, becomes apparent.
The overarching implication cited above is an appropriate introduction to Dr. Arsenian's final report to the faculty as Distinguished Springfield Professor of Humanics. It was delivered in 1969.
HUMANICS AND HIGHER EDUCATION
A PSYCHOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION
BY
Seth Arsenian, Ph. D.
Distinguished Springfield Professor of Humanics
The second Distinguished Springfield Professor of Humanics was Dr. H. H. Giles, who took a two year assignment in this post after a long and distinguished career in higher education on faculties of several colleges, as Director of the Bureau for Intercultural Education, as founder and director of the Center for Human Relations Studies at New York University, as Chairman of the Board of Goddard College, as lecturer, consultant, and acknowledged outstanding teacher. Dr. Giles found the humanics philosophy compatible with his own thinking and, while observing a self-conscious sincerity among faculty at Springfield about humanics, he noted, at the same time, practices which seemed incongruous. His choice of illustrations and quotations in his first report seems to hint at this.
SPRINGFIELD COLLEGE 1971 Humanics Address
by H. H. Giles
Human Nature and Human Affairs
About two and a half months before Dr. Giles was to deliver his second humanics report, he suffered a stroke which paralyzed one side from top to bottom. After hospitalization, he was placed in a rehabilitation center for therapy. Although his speech was still slurred and his locomotion extremely labored and exhausting by the time some of his friends saw him, he sent word to the dean that he was aiming for the March faculty meeting and would be sufficiently recovered to deliver his message in person. His wife, Mary, disagreed. He hadn't developed the speech much by then and such a timetable was unrealistic and probably inhumane. Doctors, however, encouraged him to plan on that speech and to work on recovering accordingly.
On March 9th, 1972, "Mike" Giles was introduced to the faculty for his second humanics address. His arm was in a sling, he leaned on a cane, his facial muscles still showed signs of recent paralysis, but his words were clearly enunciated. He began, in his address to a faculty which enjoyed international reknown in the field of physical education, thus:
"Ladies and Gentlemen, when I first came to Springfield College, I was puny and weak, but now look at me!"
After a few paragraphs of his presentation, Dr. Giles allowed himself the indulgence of half sitting on a high lab stool provided for the occasion. That was the last acknowledgment of his physical condition he allowed himself as he continued his address and then posed and fielded questions afterward.
SPRINGFIELD COLLEGE
1972 HUMANICS ADDRESS
H. H. Giles, Springfield Distinguished Professor of Humanics
During his term as the Distinguished Professor, Dr. Arsenian and interested faculty were developing an idea for a book on humanics.* At the same time, on campuses around the country, students activism had begun to have a high impact and, in due course, it made its way to the campus where Dr. Arsenian was leading the effort to make humanics as visible as it was thought to be pervasive. Student and Faculty activists and those students and faculty interested in preserving the status quo, all suddenly found it tactical, and occasionally appropriate, to promote their views with frequent use of word, "humanics". There were, in this period, moments of relative calm, during one of which the academic dean noted that the format of Dr. Arsenian's humanics book now beginning to crystallize, showed a final chapter by the president of the college, Dr. Wilbert E. Locklin, called "The Possible Dream". Why not start the book with a prologue which asked the question being posed by students and faculty in these stressful times, "Is humanics an impossible dream?" This was a clever and meaningful way to bracket the rest of the book. Right? Sure, it was, but views to the contrary prevailed at the time, and the prologue was not used. Here follows, however, in its world premiere, that prologue.
*This title became The Humanics Philosophy of Springfield College Springfield College Springfield, Mass 1969.
PROLOGUE
Is Humanics An Impossible Dream?
Paul U. Congdon
After Seth Arsenian completed his editing of this book1 and before President Locklin could address himself to his assignment, a culminating and summary chapter entitled "The Possible Dream," a number of events occurred which were to test severely the concepts discussed in this book.
1. Black students organized and issued a set of demands somewhat reflecting those made at the other campuses, But defended both as to content and method of presentation, not only in terms of racial redress, as at other campuses, but in the language of Humanics as well, thus challenging us to live up to ourselves as a College. This challenge, of course, had inherent in it the observation that there is, from the point of view of the protesters, too large a gap between our Humanics Ideals and what we actually do.
__________________________
1. Seth Arsenian, The Humanics Philosophy of Springfield College Springfield College, Springfield, Mass 1969
2. When it was impossible for the President to offer a response that was satisfactory to the Central Committee of Black Students within forty-eight hours, the Blacks conducted a peaceful, orderly, and, for many people, informative teach-in.
3. Months transpired without progress on the demands sufficient to satisfy the Central Committee of Black Students and the Administration Building was occupied for a night and morning. Police were called but the Blacks vacated minutes before their arrival.
4. Student power asserted itself through The Springfield Student as article after article appeared differing, in its' criticism of the establishment, only in the use of shock language from the sentiments expressed throughout the College's history in articles appearing in The Student written by persons now established in society and probably threatened by the idea of student power.
5. One student writer found particularly offensive to some trustees, alumni, faculty, administration, and students was expelled from school by the Dean of Students. He appealed to the Faculty Hearing Committee, who, on the advice of legal council, recommended reversal of the Dean's action. The Dean did reverse the action, but more important, the document giving the rationale for the Committee's recommendation established among other things, strong support for the view that a student, by electing to attend a private college, does not sign away basic human rights.
6. A peaceful sit-in of the Administration Building on behalf of free speech accompanied the procedure related to the above event.
7. Continuing disappointment in real but inefficient progress on the Black demands, plus a race related incident in a dormitory, plus a generally stressful atmosphere on campus over Vietnam war moratoria, constant sniping at the College from the immediate community because of the College's alleged inactivity in social redress despite its well publicized philosophy of community involvement, and other, less, tangible, factors contributing to anxiety and stress culminated in a take-over of a-dormitory by Black Students.
8, After three days the Black students were evacuated by court order but their action, and reactions to the various methods of dealing with them, polarized the campus.
9. Sympathetic white students, calling for the return of black students who had been separated from campus pending hearings, took over the Administration Building and were removed by riot police in a highly visible and demoralizing action.
10. These students obtained a court injunction preventing the College from taking disciplinary action against them until an alleged impropriety in the college hearing procedure was rectified.
11. Police brutalization of Springfield College students who had no previous record of law violation, radicalism, or irresponsibility, as they marched in protest over the Cambodian invasion made the College campus unofficially the scene of a number of protest meetings involving other colleges, the community, and Springfield College Students.
12. A strike meeting called by the Student Council offered views ranging from the position of Young Americans for Freedom on the right through various degrees each side of center to S.D.S. on the left. It was well attended and each speaker received courteous if not equal support. Springfield professors were given several options allowing for student initiative in the National Strike. One option not allowed was the cancellation of classes.
13. A Collegium of administration, faculty, trustees, students, and alumni were engaged to work through the summer to find answers to deep cutting problems of alleged racism on campus, student power in campus governance, and the process and nature of justice.
Which of these problems should arise at all in a College guided by the philosophy of Humanics? What solutions are appropriate in a College guided by the Philosophy of Humanics?
It is the faith of the majority at the College that Springfield has been tested in the past and Humanics, as understood then, not only survived but was the, basis of the efforts of the College to survive. The majority believe that Humanics is not an impossible dream and as a guiding philosophy it will be better understood and healthier than ever as a result of conscientious work by people of good will on the critical problems of the College in a time of revolution, 1970. The gap between the Humanics ideals of the College and the practical, daily performance of the College will be substantially reduced and Springfield College will once again be out ahead of the higher education establishment.
Repeated reference to the pages of this prologue may stimulate worthwhile, competing, interpretations during the reading of the chapters to follow.2
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2This never became a prologue. It was intended as a prologue to Seth Arsenian's book previously cited, to the chapters of which the final sentence of the unused prologue refers.
Despite the failure to use the foregoing prologue, Dr. Arsenian's book, The Humanics Philosophy of Springfield College,3 was published by Springfield College and well received by the college family. It contains chapters on the history of the philosophy, its physical and intellectual dimension, its spiritual dimension (a chapter by Fred Gladstone Bratton), its concept of the whole man in its relationship to higher education generally and the particular collegiate community as well as to the community-at-large, and to the humanization of man. The concluding chapter is, "The Possible Dream", by Wilbert E. Locklin, President of Springfield College. Except for those chapters credited to Drs. Bratton and Locklin, the book is Dr. Arsenian's editorial synthesis of writings and commentary of his own, plus those of many interested faculty such as Dr. Charles Weckwerth, Professor Sean O'Connor, Dr. Paul Congdon, Dean Emeritus, Thornton Merriam, Dr. Henry Paar, and others.
Whole man that he is, Dr. Arsenian, faced with compulsory retirement in 1969 at his estimated age of 67 (family flight from his childhood homeland left him without an accurate record of date of birth), he secured a professorship at California Western in San Diego, California, where he currently (1977) still serves.
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3. op cit.
The new focus on humanics encouraged other published observations on the concept. In 1973, Professor Sean O'Connor, of the Teacher Education faculty of Springfield College, published Man Is Born to Play and Other Essays. In it is included "The Case for the Bachelor of Humanics". Renewal of the use of this earned degree was actually proposed on two occasions to the Academic Affairs Commission of Springfield College. The proposal did not prevail. Perhaps it should be offered again.
A CASE FOR THE BACHELOR OF HUMANICS
A recent issue of Time Magazine carried a feature which stated that mid-twentieth century professors, in contrast to their earlier colleagues, exhibit little or no allegiance to the college at which they teach. They do not consider their institution as theirs nor do they feel any particular attachment or loyalty to the college which houses, feeds, and takes care of their social needs.
What the feature is saying in essence is that twentieth-century institutions have lost their distinctiveness as institutions, that every college is more or less the same; that professors could, in a conflict situation, get along at another college just as well as at the present one.
As I mused on this problem it struck me that here in another form was the “nation of sheep," the "conformist," "the lonely crowd." Have all to many of our institutions in some way, by some mysterious process, lost their identity? Have they lost their original impulse to become what they were intended to be? Do they have a character of their own and do they communicate that character both to the professors and students they profess to regard as their own?
Growing Centralization
Certainly, with the growing centralization of our state institutions this peculiarity of character, of purpose and of basic identity is more apt to be lost than in private institutions. But the vast homogenization of values, of institutions, of men and ideals, of viewpoints and systems seems to be taking place stealthily, but nonetheless surely, in all institutions of society.
To a degree at least, Springfield College has escaped some of these pitfalls.
It doesn't take much time for a stranger, after he has set foot on the Springfield campus, to realize that there is something different here.
Here a point of view is represented.
Here there is an awareness of a philosophy that has been consciously conceived, consciously developed, and consciously communicated.
Here is an institution that has a character, an identity, a mission, a sense of purpose which attracts, sustains, nourishes, and molds individuals. It is not a static character, however, since the institution and its ideals are also actively shaped and molded and developed as well in an on-going process of growth with the changing times. But to be underscored is the fact that even while it changes with various circumstances, the essential philosophy of humanics remains basically unaltered.
In an era of anonymity, it has somehow maintained its identity.
Springfield College has a number of firsts which are unique in higher education. At a time when specialized education was frowned upon, it boldly pointed the way toward specialization while, at the same time, focusing attention on the whole man in a unique way. (A viewpoint, by the way, which should be incorporated by every specialized school. Otherwise we are turning out good stenographers, good mechanics , good athletes, but certainly not good men. There is too much of a tendency to define man in terms of function and not man as man.) It insists upon a liberal education, but is anxious that the knowledge we acquire does not remain in storage in the ivory tower but is translated into action, and real situations. It has constantly held before our eyes the spiritual, intellectual, and physical aspects of man. While other colleges generally give lip service to these facets of man, no other college to my mind tries as hard or achieves as much as Springfield does in this area.
To a large extent, Springfield College is an institution that has escaped the Symplegadean straits of modern man. While the mainstream of intellectual life today gives evidence of anxiety, the fragmented and broken image of man, the man in process and the man who has lost his way in cosmic solitudes, the man whose value systems have caused him to lose his identity and his sense of uniqueness and have robbed him of a purposefulness and meaningfulness in life. Springfield College is turning out men and women with the reverse of these qualities.
An Anxious World
With a world that views itself as anxiety-ridden, caught up in postures of change for change sake, full of tensions and ambiguities, we stand out in sharp relief with our positive image of man and our ideals of spirit, mind, body and service to mankind. For my part, I would like to see this spirit analyzed much more than it has been in order to create more of an awareness of the richness of our humanics philosophy on campus.
Outstanding as these features are, however, there is always the ever-present danger for institutions, as for individuals, that these moments of health will be lost. For both institutions and individuals, the moment is always a living, on-going now, with its perplexities and problems. And unless these problems are resolved, the spirit of the institution can die, even while we retain mottos, Long Range Plans, etc. In a word, the elan vital of the institution becomes mere words, ergo, meaningless.
Someone has said that the two extremes a college must avoid are identification and alienation. Identification comes about when the outside world or the society at large encroaches upon the college to such an extent that we reflect society more than pioneer in it and alter it. Alienation comes about when we lose contact with our fellow men or the society outside and go our separate ways. The institution becomes wrapped up in its own visions so much that it loses contact with society and very soon becomes an anomaly, a curiosity piece.
Although both of these paths are dangerous, the greater danger today comes from identification. Witness the many treatises on conformity, the crowd, the nation of sheep, the organization man, or the automatons in Brave New World as an indication of this.
Identification with Society
Identification with society means, in a word, "going the way of all flesh." It means that the world is shaping us, where we, as a college, should be shaping the world. We become a vehicle for the transmission of knowledge but hardly a vehicle for the transformation of knowledge. We are being fashioned instead of engaged in the fashioning.
(I like to look upon the whole problem as a problem of genesis, or growth. Even while we are trying to absorb the best of a changing society, it would be inconsistent and suicidal not to be aware of the fundamental concepts of man in the college. In this way the problem of identification and alienation can more readily be dissolved.)
It is against this background of identification with society that I urge the college to reconsider its fundamental aims by a re-introduction of the Bachelor of Humanics.
The re-introduction of this degree of Bachelor of Humanics is neither identification nor is it alienation. For at a time when the United States is just beginning to get service-minded and the ideals of the Peace Corps and Vista and Commonwealth Service Corps are very much of the present, this degree would have wide appeal. Today's student more than ever is interested not in money, but in service to man: which is admirably captured in the Bachelor of Humanics.
It is evident to a newcomer on campus that President Doggett wasn't afraid of doing something different. It is evident, too, that he was a man of vision who communicated to this institution his own uniqueness and sense of purpose. He gave it a sense of identity, so badly lacking in today's institutions. If there was reason for rejecting the Bachelor of Humanics years ago because it was misunderstood, we can see, from our vantage point today, that it actually was not so much a far-out as a far-reaching and a pioneering concept. There are more reasons today for re-introducing the Bachelor of Humanics than there were for dropping it in 1926.
If a single degree were given to all our graduates with a detailed specialization, it would go a long way toward unifying our various programs, curriculums and activities, not to mention its meaningfulness for the most central of all concepts at Springfield College, man as man.
Oftentimes in institutions, the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing and, indeed, the various departments sometimes run post-haste in opposite directions. With the Bachelor of Humanics there could be less divergence, less an atmosphere of schizophrenia (institutions also suffer from this) within the various departments and more convergence and a posture of knowing where we are going.
A New Dimension
Another dimension was added to this picture when man looked upon knowledge not only for its own sake but as an instrument for power or control over his environment. This was exemplified by the B.S. degree: a degree designed to instill scientific attitudes into man and make him more aware of his co-creating activity with nature as a controller of nature for progress.
The B.A. represents the idea, the ivory tower, the man of intellect; the B.S. represents action, power, progress, control over nature, the man of action.
Thus a see-saw struggle began which lasts down to the present. The people who think too much (the B.A.) seldom act and the people who act too much (the B.S.) seldom think, to put it negatively.
De facto, if not de jure, the B.A. and the B.S. really merge at many points. Mostly, today's Bachelor of Arts is really a specialist, majoring in a particular area, taught by a specialist as a skill would be taught-- without any reference to man's place in the universe. Our "core" courses, so to speak, are fragmented. We teach the same subject matter in the same manner in a B.S. as well as in a B.A. course --but there should be a difference. And knowledge for knowledge sake doesn't flourish, Images and labels aside, these are really, for the most part, specialized degrees that have lost their true meaningfulness. As for the B.S., it is so "thing-and-material" oriented that we have viewed man primarily as a doer; but failed to look at the well springs of his being: man as man.
The humanics philosophy, also, as it is detailed at Springfield College, is devoted to making man keenly aware of his place in the universe, the world and his community. While Springfield purports to be a specialized college, it also takes into account the whole man--in a manner and to a degree that very few others do. And while its purpose is the sphere of action, there is also a healthy detachment of seeking knowledge for its own sake.
A Specialized College
Paradoxical as it may seem, Springfield College has more of the spirit of the B.A. than the liberal arts colleges themselves. Springfield College is a specialized college which puts its emphasis on the whole man; many liberal arts colleges are supposedly non-specialist, while turning out men who think of themselves more in terms of function than anything else, e.g., a history major, a chemistry major, etc.
In a growing era of specialization, have we at Springfield gone a long way toward solving the relationship between the idea and action, the whole man and the specialist? I would say that we have and I would add further that this message should not be hidden under a bushel.
Confident in our own convictions, I would suggest a re-adoption of the Bachelor of Humanics, as an exemplification of these ideals.
Are we shaping the world or is the world shaping us?
Above all, the spirit of Springfield is designed to transcend institutionalized forms, to look beyond credit hours and grades as such and to focus on man. In this way, we have to some extent broken the patterns of the organization man or the Alphas and the Deltas of Huxley.
It is, perhaps, more for our society than for ourselves that we should introduce the Bachelor of Humanics--if for no other reason, as we are wont to put it, then for the sake of debate, to make men more aware of our Great Society.
In many ways our society has failed to understand the interrelationships within itself and has become entrapped in its own interstices, as far as the most central of all features of our universe is concerned: man himself.
A review of some thinkers indicate this clearly. In one we see men so closely blended into a return to nature that we may wonder if it is a man at all. In another we see a ruthless image with tooth and claw whose sole object is survival. Yet another has proclaimed a loss of reason and another makes man into a good mixer. The tragedy of tragedies in our society is that we in principle, in theory advocate a non-absolutistic, no-fixed principles, relativistic approach to man himself. However fruitful this viewpoint is for the physical world, all the fruit is worthless if it has no meaning for man. This has made for an incoherent, schizophrenic, anxious man divided against himself. As a result of our piecemeal studying, we in principle have eschewed any coherent picture of man. Our tendency to see the part has concealed from our eyes the coherent whole to which he belongs. We tend to fragment, to break nature and man up into pieces and forget man's deeper inter-relations and his measureless horizons. The time has come to include man in his wholeness in a coherent picture of the universe.
We have forgotten, alas, man himself.
In this talk it is asserted that the Bachelor of Arts was indeed commensurate with man's need at that time. But we are no longer spectators looking on the world without or in any ivory tower; we are within the world as participators. With this increasing awareness what was before unconsciously taken as a matter of course, we must now consciously strive for, namely the relationship between the spiritual, intellectual and physical sides of man, not to mention his active-participator role in the world toward his fellow man. I would suggest with Martin Buber that for a long time now there has been an I-it relationship between man and man instead of an I-thou relationship, exemplified by our idea of service to mankind.
Dostoevski remarked that, "it is amazing how we can arrive at more and more parts and it is marvelous how we can be blind to the whole."
The philosophy of humanics as I see it, if not the whole answer to our times at least, is an answer. It is a philosophy that neglects neither the spirit nor the intellect nor the body nor does it omit man as a participator in the unfolding drama of anthropogenesis. It is, furthermore, a viewpoint that consciously takes into account all three relationships of body, mind, and spirit, and the I-thou relationship in service to mankind.
It is against this background that I see the Bachelor of Humanics not something different or dilettantish or fanciful, but as a concept that is brimful, pressed-down and flowing over, rich in possibilities.
The humanics philosophy has enriched the lives of many of us at Springfield College. It has been tested, scrutinized, weighed and reconsidered at various levels of the development of Springfield College and not found wanting. It is time to offer this degree of Bachelor of Humanics as a fitting embodiment of the humanics philosophy to the larger crucible of the open society, not because we think it needs further testing, but because we are firm in our convictions that what we have here is not only ancillary or complementary to our age, but imperative.
It is with this background in mind that I suggest that Springfield College re-introduce the Bachelor of Humanics degree.
A publication, biannually issued by Springfield College, is Springfield College Studies. It summarizes research and publication for each two year period at the College. In the 1973 edition, Dr. Emery W. Seymour, Director of the Division of Graduate Studies and Coordinator of Research, published an introductory essay on a relationship not typically envisioned, namely, "Research and the Humanics philosophy".
RESEARCH AND THE HUMANICS PHILOSOPHY
by
Emery W. Seymour
Only in a Springfield College publication might one come upon a discussion of a topic such as listed above. All colleges of any consequence claim research of varying types as integral to their operation. Humanics, on the other hand, is distinctly a Springfield College term, and even more distinctly, a Springfield College characteristic or, in today's terminology, a life style. Sometimes hard to define or describe to non-Springfield College persons (and at times even to on-campus personnel), the Humanics Philosophy has been studied in greatest depth by Dr. Seth Arsenian, a former Professor of Psychology, Director of Graduate Studies and Distinguished Professor of Humanics during a long and productive career at Springfield College. The August 1969 publication, "The Humanics Philosophy of Springfield College," which was edited by Dr. Arsenian provides numerous takeoff points for observation within this presentation and is required reading for anyone wishing to understand Springfield College. (2)
As set forth in the preface of the above work
To build men, one must know man. Out of this conviction there developed the concept of Humanics - a set of ideas, values and goals which through several metamorphoses became the accepted philosophy of education at Springfield College, It is because of this philosophy that the College believes itself to be distinct and different from other colleges. It is around this philosophy that the college administration, faculty, students and alumni join in a cooperative effort to move toward commonly sought goals. It is by focusing on this philosophy that there develops on its campus a college community which, in open communication, makes communion and commitment possible. (2:i)
A number of attributes or distinctive properties have been ascribed to the Humanics Philosophy, some of which may be of greater consequence than others and warrant more mention at this time. Starting with the term "Humanics," it is readily recognized that here is a philosophy, and approach toward education, where man is central and knowledge as it is acquired and transmitted is of consequence, not in and of itself, but as it may be utilized for the betterment of man. Not only is man the focal point in such an approach, but it is man in his entirety to whom Springfield College turns its attention. When the trustees in 1891 adopted Luther H. Gulick's emblem of the inverted equilateral triangle enclosed by a circle, they were endorsing Gulick's statement that "The triangle stands not for the body or mind or spirit, but for the man as a whole...It stands for the symmetrical man..."
Another term intimately associated with Humanics is that of service. The current undergraduate catalog speaks of"... a motivation of service to humanity that is international, intercultural, interracial and interreligious." (6.7) In this connection, the words of Arsenian are most appropriate.
The use of the word service, with its frequent repetition in advertisements in the mass media, has become a word of uncertain virtue; but its meaning as used by the founders of the College had a very serious and solemn connotation. It means the using of one's skill and knowledge to make life abundant for self and others. In other words, service refers to a moral conviction and commitment to increase, enhance and affirm life for all men. Rather than use the power that emanates from knowledge for self-aggrandizement, it will be used to build man and to increase his stature as a human being. (2.27)
Again in Arsenian's words,"...Springfield College is, in a way, a specialized college, centering its specialization in teaching skills and understandings and in increasing knowledge in the areas of human service vocations." (2:28) Thus, Humanics is frequently described as "Education of the whole man in the service of all men."
Consistent with the holistic approach to man is the principle of integration whereby narrow specialization is discouraged, interrelationships among fields of study are recognized and joint undertakings are promoted, and where classroom and field work experiences are coordinated in a manner designed to make a Springfield College education functional and pragmatic. In the artificial dichotomy of "pure" versus "applied," the Humanics Philosophy inclines toward the latter and "...insists that the value of ideas must be tested by their consequences in action." (Arsenian, 1:2)
Additional components worthy of mention include emphasis on man's assets and potentialities rather than on deficiencies and shortcomings; immersion of the College in the local or the larger human community; an international outreach whereby students from foreign lands have studied here and Springfield College students have acquired a portion of their preparation in other lands; and a concern for the freedom of the teacher as a seeker of truth with the ability to interpret that truth as he conceives it. Lastly, there has been within this philosophy a respect for students with open communication channels and mutual respect for each other a part of student relations with faculty and other College personnel. (Arsenian, 1:6-9)
Having offered at least a partial description of Humanics, the writer turns to an examination of research and from there, hopefully, to a connection whereby the two are seen in combination. As a starting point, it seems in order to comment that both in pronunciation and in practice, the emphasis in the word research is on the second syllable. Accordingly, any institution or group or individual is, or should be, constantly engaged in a search and a re-search out of which knowledge will be both obtained and utilized.
Definitions of research may be found in profusion and each reader undoubtedly has a personal definition of the term to which he subscribes. One which has proved to be helpful to the writer was offered by Dr. Peter V. Karpovich, now Research Professor of Physiology Emeritus and long-time faculty member of Springfield College. In speaking with a group of doctoral students and faculty members, he said "Research is following your curiosity in an organized way." If a person considers this statement carefully, he can gain much from it. Following one's curiosity means that he needs initially to be well prepared by way of instruction and experience. By and large, one becomes curious in those areas wherein he has developed interests. Correspondingly, interest is greater in matters where some degree of expertness has been acquired.
Not only does research call for the pursuit of one's curiosity, but this is to be done in an organized way. Hit or miss methods of investigation, chance observations, and intuition are not research even though one may be curious about a problem he has uncovered. The careful study of previous investigations, establishment of controls, unbiased collection of data, appropriate analysis of the evidence and intelligent drawing of conclusions certainly are consistent with the latter half of the definition which calls for "an organized way."
Points of view concerning research differ in degree if not in kind with the frequently employed terms of pure or basic research on the one hand and applied research on the other representing seemingly different approaches toward the function of research. Today, few people advocate the "pure" approach if by it there is implied not only no apparent application and utilization but, even further, no attempt to translate findings to that end. At the same time, it is evident that research functions optimally where a minimum of restrictions is set forth and where investigators are free to pursue inquiries which for the moment simply answer previously unanswered questions but which at a later time may be "applied" in the direct resolution of problems and amelioration of conditions.
Within the report prepared by Springfield College for the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education is found the following statement: "In general, Springfield College faculty is identified much more as a teaching faculty in extensive, direct contact with students than as a faculty committed to research or theoretical experimentation." (8:36) In addressing this topic, Arsenian commented in similar fashion, saying:
...education at Springfield College centers on teaching more than research. While research is encouraged and facilitated, especially on the graduate level, it is at the same time made clear that research should enrich and improve a professor's teaching rather than become a hindrance to his work in relation to his students. (2:33)
In a note to a faculty member, Springfield College President Wilbert E. Locklin wrote:
The qualitative and quantitative demands upon higher education at the undergraduate as well as graduate levels compel a college to attend advances in the discipline and these necessarily are research-related. I would hope we could encourage research on the part of every faculty member for his sake, for the sake of his students, for the sake of his field, and for the sake of his college. Properly construed, that research can augment rather than jeopardize his teaching opportunity.
It should be obvious, then, that, in keeping with the Humanics Philosophy, "publish or perish" provisions affecting retention and promotion; faculty member off-campus research involvement responding to governmental or industrial inducements with teaching and student contact playing incidental or nonexistent roles; and accompanying practices of graduate student teaching fellows given complete responsibility for classroom functions, are alien to the spirit and practice of Springfield College. If the objective of an institution is more effective instruction, certainly one of the ways of accomplishment is faculty research involvement. In the words of a senior Springfield College faculty member:
I believe research is an important function for any scientist teaching at the college level. There is an intellectual stimulation and an understanding of the nature of science which cannot be gained in any other way. There is a much deeper appreciation of the pace of change in scientific knowledge and methodology. There is the self-confidence which comes from contributing to the advance of knowledge. And, quite important, students demonstrate an increased respect for, and confidence in, a faculty member who is an active participant in, as well as a narrator of, the scientific process.
For longer than a decade, a General Research Fund has been administered through the Committee on Graduate Study to demonstrate in a very real way the support of the College for research involvement on the part of members of the faculty and administration. The first two guidelines concerning applications to this fund refer to its purpose as being scholarly study of a problem by means of research with the nature of the research being given wide interpretation and specify that the problem to be investigated be relevant to the College's purposes, its curriculum and its problems. Through such assistance, many faculty members have been able to engage in investigations of particular personal interest and with application to performance of their College teaching. In several instances, the aid provided has stimulated sufficient activity with resultant evidence of value to motivate outside sources to provide substantial additional funds. The Fund has demonstrated that the College is ready to grant support for the things for which it stands. When the Faculty Personnel Policy states: "It is recognized that Springfield College as an educational institution has a teaching function, a research or knowledge-expanding function, and a community service function. A member of the faculty shares these functions," (7: Article 2:c) the College responds by providing, to the extent of its resources, the means whereby the faculty member will be enabled to fulfill the above-mentioned functions.
In an address to Springfield College students many years ago, Dr. Laurence L. Doggett, President of the College from 1896 to 1936, gave direction to research of that day and of the present when he suggested: "Find out the problem of your generation, and with God's guidance help solve it."(Arsenian, 1:14)
In Maslow's "Motivation and Personality," this statement by Einstein and Infield is found:
The formulation of a problem is far more often essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skill. To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science. (5:18)
As indicated in the two previous citations, meaningful research of necessity has its origin in meaningful topics for investigation. The identification and delineation of consequential areas of study require highly skilled and experienced individuals who play a major role in the acquisition of knowledge and whose involvement in the research process is of at least equal importance to that of the data gatherers and analysts. In an institution guided by the philosophy of Humanics, it is important that the problems for study be related to man and to man's improvement of self and of society. In "The Humanics Philosophy of Springfield College," Arsenian stated:
The implication of the Humanics concept for research is that characteristically our research concerns itself with man and his relations and that in this research man, the subject, should not be treated as an impersonal object, that be himself can be part of the search. Research should not and need not be limited to quantitative methods and statistical devices which treat man as a mere average, as impersonal data, as an object merely to be observed and measured from outside. The feeling, the thinking, the imagining, the meaning, the goals of men, should, in one way or another, enter the research process and make it sensible not only to the researcher but also to men and women who are subjects of the study. As we redirect our research efforts in the direction indicated, our research will be more and more in harmony with the Humanics philosophy of Springfield College. (2:61)
Maslow takes a very similar position to that above and says:
A psychological interpretation of science begins with the acute realization that science is a human creation, rather than an autonomous, nonhuman, or per se "thing" with intrinsic rules of its own. Its origins are in human motives, its goals are human goals, and it is created, renewed, and maintained by human beings. Its laws, organization, and articulations rest not only on the nature of the reality that it discovers, but also on the nature of the human nature that does the discovering. The psychologist, especially if he has had any clinical experience, will quite naturally and spontaneously approach any subject matter in a personal way by studying people, rather than the abstractions they produce, scientists as well as science. (5:l)
The manner whereby problems are approached and investigated and the analysis of evidence are seen by many as dependent upon the nature of the problem. Consequently, there are those who contend that much research which is human orientated mistakenly enjoys methodology which has demonstrated its value and effectiveness within the physical sciences. For example, Maslow has observed:
...we have the tendency among many psychologists and social scientists to imitate old techniques (those of the physical and life sciences) rather than to create and invent the new ones made necessary by the fact that their degree of development, their problems, and their data are intrinsically different from those of the physical sciences. (5:15)
The laws of human psychology and of nonhuman nature are in some respects the same, but are in some respects utterly different...Wishes, fears, dreams, hopes, all behave differently from pebbles, wires, temperatures or atoms. A philosophy is not constructed in the same way as a bridge. (5:7)
What, then, of research in an institution dedicated to Humanics? Can one "follow his curiosity in an organized way" when studying man? Is the very concept of research as suggested earlier antithetical to the study of man because of the stress on objectivity, quantification and generalization? To the writer, the answer is and must be that the most meaningful and the most difficult research is that which relates to man in terms of his other than physical attributes. He takes issue with those who contend that the general procedures of the physical sciences are inappropriate for social science research. It is recognized that man is not inanimate as are the pebbles and wires mentioned previously and that he is an individual with individual characteristics, aspirations and variations. At the same time, a study of man, as man, takes on greater value to the extent that generalizations and their accompanying applications become possible. Because of the existent inadequacies in measurement, there is great difficulty in the quantification of what are essentially qualitative variables with conclusions usually couched in qualified terms. The task, it would appear, is to advance the presently crude yardsticks and tape measures to much more sophisticated instrumentation appropriate for measurement of the variables under study to the end that more valid data may be derived. While there is full acceptance of Arsenian's words "Perhaps the greatest contribution of the College will be in devising and teaching ways to bring changes in man's attitudes, values and perceptions," (2:111-112) it seems logical to demand that, before these ways which have been devised are actually taught, they be tested in a number of appropriately controlled settings to have some assurance that attitudes, values and perceptions actually will be favorably affected by them.
In summary, research is not only compatible with the Humanics Philosophy; it is essential within such a philosophy. There is so much to be learned about man and procedures for discovering the unknown are still in the formative stages. The challenge to all is clearly illustrated by Maslow's observation "Surely, anyone who had read and understood the history of science would not dare to speak of an unsolvable problem; he would speak only of problems which had not yet been solved." (5:16) To the student or faculty member for whom the Humanics Philosophy provides motivation and direction, may he remain constantly alert and inquisitive, responsive to conditions surrounding him, and capable of recognizing and defining significant problems. May he have the preparation, the skill, and the necessary techniques, instrumentation, and subjects so that a meaningful design may be developed and implemented from which valid evidence bearing on the problem may be acquired. Finally, may he have the wisdom to interpret properly that which has been obtained and the perceptiveness and persistence to see that the addition to wisdom may be applied to the greater good of mankind.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Arsenian, Seth. "The Meaning of Humanics . " Paper presented to Springfield College Faculty, January 1967.
2. Arsenian, Seth (ed .) The Humanics Philosophy of Springfield College. Springfield, Mass. : Springfield College, 1969.
3. Doggett, Laurence Locke. Man and a School. New York: Association Press, 1943.
4. Hall, Lawrence K. Doggett of Springfield. Springfield, Mass. : Springfield College, 1964.
5. Maslow Abraham, Motivation and Personality. 2nd Ed. New York: Harper and Row, 1970.
6. Springfield College. 1973 -74 Undergraduate Catalog.
7. Springfield College. Faculty Personnel Policy. May 1972.
8. Springfield College. NCATE Report. Fall 1972.
The third Distinguished Springfield Professor of Humanics was Dr. Charles F. Weckwerth, who held the position for three years from 1972 to 1975. In his first report, he offered a few autobiographical reflections during which the faculty settled back to listen to what they expected, an account of how this man, so identified with the Humanics idea, and with Springfield College and its history, developed. These initial paragraphs came, however, to an abrupt close after only a few minutes of speaking time and Dr. Weckwerth announced a research project to identify the central agreement among various groups on the meaning of Humanics.
During his second year of the Distinguished Professorship, Dr. Weckwerth developed an extremely comprehensive and, to the casual viewer, highly complex paradigm of the interrelationship of the elements that make up the concept of Humanics. It was his expressed opinion, after projecting this work on a screen and explaining it as his second report to the faculty, that this presentation elicited from the faculty considerably more courtesy than understanding. He knew there had to be another way to get at the essence of Humanics for interpretive purposes.
At the great risk of doing disservice to Dr. Weckwerth's second presentation, the Editor attempts in the following pages and comments to summarize, rather than reproduce, the work.
An historical review, with illustrated quotations from the patriarchs of the college indicating the major concepts in the philosophy of education which came to be known, at Springfield College, as Humanics, led to a series of slides projected on the screen. Each succeeding slide added a complexity implied, but not illustrated, in the previous one. The introductory slides were an attempt to convey the concept of universality. Then a series numbered one through six built up the Humanics idea step by step. Marginal comments illustrated the methods and some of the leading personalities involved in the build-up.
1. The 380 degrees of a compass illustrates the wholeness of the person the College aspired to develop.
2. The circle above appears again with superimposed square divided into four smaller squares representing the four-fold aim of the YMCA, that is, the development of young men intellectually, spiritually, physically, and socially.
3. The circle again appears. This time it is an inverted triangle which is superimposed. Its sides represent spirit, mind, and body. (This may indicate the beginning of an assumption long held by one faction of the Progressive Education Movement, namely, that if you make better individuals, society will be better -- Editor.)
4. Again the square divided in quarters is superimposed on the circle. This time the classroom concerns, as distinct from those other teaching areas, the gyms and the playing fields, are shown. Religious education, biology, sociology, and psychology were considered fundamental.
5. The circle is now seen with a rectangle superimposed upon it. Divisions and labels within the rectangle reveal the views then current with regard to the appropriate proportions of general to professional education as the would be whole man progresses year by year in college.
6. A new form, the star, illustrates the late 1950's and 1960's in the curricular evaluation seeking the most appropriate education for the whole man. The circle again represents wholeness. The points of the star indicate; men's communicative skills, man in meaning, man in nature, man in movement, and man in society. Studies in each of these categories in appropriate proportions became the way Humanics was implemented.
None of these developments was incompatible with any other, nor distinct in time and space, neither were clusters of personalities related exclusively with only one distinct step along the way. Humanics as it was by the time Dr. Weckwerth reported, for the second time, as Distinguished Springfield Professor of Humanics, was the sum total of all these steps and much more not included in this Editor's summary nor even by Dr. Weckwerth himself, a diagrammed estimate of the sum, however, was attempted in one of the last slides. It looked something like the illustration below except here all the labels and marginal comment have been omitted.
It may be that more understanding is apt to come from the attempt to explain this philosophy through one's own development of diagram than through study of an existing one. Perhaps the lines and spaces in the unlabeled version of Dr. Weckwerth's diagram can be labeled by the reader in accordance with the study of the various papers in this collection, including the diagrams by Dr. Weckwerth appearing on previous pages. In his third year as Humanics Professor, Dr. Weckwerth and a colleague, Dr. Barbara Jensen, did a pilot study on the Image of Humanics at Springfield College? They developed a semantic differential instrument based upon the research technique of Charles E. Osgood, of the University of Illinois. The use of their trial instrument gave results which were compatible with casual observation; namely, that differences in feelings about what Humanics means, and implications thereof, do not differ significantly among various groups, such as alumni, faculty, Trustees, male, female, young, old, which have had some kind of committed relationship to Springfield College.
Dr. Weckwerth's third report to the faculty, not reproduced here, was upon the pilot study. Now retired, Dr. Weckwerth has greatly refined his pilot instrument and seeks funding for a far more definitive attempt to identify a widely agreed upon meaning of humanics.
1. Charles F. Weckwerth & Barbara E. Jensen -- A Report on a Pilot Study of the Image of Humanics at Springfield College; Springfield College, Springfield, Massachusetts, 1976
The fourth man to have the title of Distinguished Springfield Professor of Humanics was Rev. Holmes N. VanDerbeck. "Van" had enjoyed a long career at Springfield on the religion faculty and at one time or another as Director of Student Activities, as Chaplain, and as advisor of classes, among other assignments. He sees Humanics as a practical action kind of philosophy . His address to the faculty reflects this emphasis.
HUMANICS IS LIKE . . . . .
Holmes N . VanDerbeck
Distinguished Professor of Humanics
Springfield College
Springfield, Massachusetts
April 6, 1976
Charles E. Silvia, when approached with the idea of his appointment to the Distinguished Springfield Professorship of Humanics, wanted to think it over. His long and distinguished career had been in physical education and, though scientifically-based, was most visible in its practical applications. His reaction was, "I thought that honor was for philosopher types like Arsenian and Weckwerth."
The dean's response was, The college stands for humanics. There are thousands of alumni who identify you, first and foremost, with the college. They are beneficiaries, over the decades, of your application of the humanics concept as you understood and understand it, even though, for many of those years, the term was not used as frequently and self-consciously as we have been doing lately. Why not talk about how a person gets to be a kind of person who spends his whole professional career in a pursuit which is never calculated to bring the material rewards of the same effort in another profession or vocation?"
In a few days, Professor Silvia accepted the title and the responsibility. In the spring of 1977, he displayed, for the faculty, his research into his own family tree in a response to the question posed by the dean at the time of the appointment.
IS THE HUMANICS PHILOSOPHY A MYTH?
CHARLES E. SILVIA
DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR OF HUMANICS
SPRINGFIELD COLLEGE
SPRINGFIELD, MASS.
APRIL 12, 1977
September 1966
DISTINGUISHED SPRINGFIELD PROFESSOR OF HUMANICS
SPRINGFIELD COLLEGE
Name
Year
Discipline
Dr. Seth Arsenian
1966-1967
Psychology
1967-1968
1968-1969
Dr. Harry H. Giles
1970-1971
Human Relations
1971-1972
Dr. Charles Weckwerth
1972-1973
Recreation
1973-1974
1974-1975
Mr. Holmes VanDerbeck
1975-1976
Religion
Mr. Charles Silvia
1976-1978
Health, Physical Education and Recreation
IS THE HUMANICS PHILOSOPHY A MYTH?
In view of the creeping erosion of moral and ethical values in recent years, there is growing concern on the part of young and old alike that the Humanics Philosophy is in jeopardy.
We are familiar with the history of Man's inhumanity to Man with no end in sight as we witness the continuing struggle for human rights. We are confused by the rapidity of social change and puzzled by how far changes in moral attitudes should extend.
Moral disintegration results in crimes of violence and subsequent threat to the safety and sanity of all law abiding citizens. We share in the growing anxiety about the future of our economy, racial discord, conflicting political philosophies and loss of faith in leadership.
The mounting hysteria on all levels of competitive athletics has dulled our sensitivities to the true values of participation. Recruiting practices are both manipulative and exploitative of young athletes. The need to reevaluate the materialistic goals that are driving us towards uncontrollable excess is paramount.
Are we becoming a society of rules and regulations that govern our lives to the smallest detail? Sharp curtailment of individual choice and judgment is seen as government power increases. Dr. Saul Mendlovitz, Director of the World Order Models Project (known as W.O.M.P.) contends that there
_________
"is no longer a question of whether or not there will be world government by the year 2000. The questions are how it will come into being (cataclysm, drift, more or less rational design), and whether it will be totalitarian, benign, or participatory (the possibilities being in that order."4
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Have we reached the state where we have no shared values recognized as inherent in human nature or in the human community? Has everything become a question of subjective self-interest and cynical manipulation?
We are confronted with the need for moral conversion and the strength and conviction to rekindle our belief in the human values of basic decency, integrity and conscience. ____
Why do some people decide on a Humanics career?
Are there any identifiable reasons?
Why did I decide on such a career?
Are there any answers in the past? Eugene O'Neill once said:
__"There is no present or future, only the past happening again and again, now."
I arrived on the Springfield College campus in September 1930, accompanied by my mother and father. This was my first visit to the campus. I knew only one classmate, Cal Martin, no coaches, no faculty, no admission interview. I had decided two years before that Springfield College was my first and only choice through contacts I had had with two Springfield College alumni. I knew I wanted to be a teacher-coach.
My father, as a part time game warden, the depression along with millions of others had collapsed our fragile economic structure, had visited the Springfield College campus and his report was far from encouraging. The campus was small, with unimpressive buildings, sparse grass fields and indiscriminate parking areas. His assessment, however, had little impact on my decision to prepare for a career in physical education.
My memory is clear as I recall my father parking our 1922 Packard touring car, with my trunk strapped on the rear rack, after a long trip from Haverill, Mass. My mother, who was to die two years later of cancer of the breast, and I entered Alumni Hall to check in with my classmates. It was then I knew I had made no mistake, for I was to meet the first of several outstanding men, who were to shape my career these past forty-three years. Britton McCabe, then acting Dean of Freshman, captivated my mother with his sincerity and remarkable skill with the identification process.
Throughout my undergraduate years, I was privileged to study with men of singleness of purpose that is indelibly imprinted in my mind. There were two wonderful women, Mrs. Hickox and Mrs. Judd, who are remembered with affection and respect. These dedicated men and women, who were underpaid, had the unique capacity to guide our young minds in the realization of our own specific powers.
My good fortune, as an undergraduate, included an active role in student government. Student leaders had the opportunity to exercise considerable influence over student activities in the typical emotional, uninformed fashion. As President of the Student Association, as it was called in those days, I was privy to information, not accessible to the student body. I will not forget my distress and opposition to the Student Cabinet's efforts to reduce the expense of the inadequately funded intercollegiate program. This exercise in idiocy, included questioning the Athletic Director's personal living expenses, with the goal in mind to reduce his salary. Such presumptuousness fortunately was opposed by the majority.
Tuition in those days was $300 per year with practically unlimited course options when the academic index permitted. Consequently, some of us graduated with 140 semester hours or more. With the meager financial resources available, Dr. Doggett and his staff were hard pressed to keep the good ship "Springfield" afloat.
My mind drifted into history as I walked away from Apsley House, the Duke of Wellington's home at 1 Piccadilly, London. My maternal great grandfather, who was born in Wales, was, according to our family history, one of Wellington's soldiers at Waterloo. He was only 16 when Napoleon's legions were defeated in that historic battle. Later my wife and I were to travel to Boppard in Germany, on the Rhine, where he had settled with his German wife. While in Boppard, we were to find in the town hall, my grandfather's birth certificate, which established his father's age and occupation as a day labourer; a discovery far beyond our highest expectations.
The Duke of Wellington called his foot soldiers, "the scum of the earth, enlisted for drink." hardly a statement of social concern. The British army was a natural haven for destitute, friendless and fugitive youths, who after a few weeks drill were considered ready for combat duty. When, in April 1814, Napoleon had been sent into exile on the island of Elba, Wellington's well trained army had been disbanded or scattered to the East, Ireland and America. While I stood on the field of Waterloo, only two miles long and two-thirds of a mile across, where 73,000 French and 67,000 British and their allies were to meet on Sunday, June 18, 1815, I wondered how my great grandfather survived the ferocious battle, the scene of great courage crass errors of leadership and startling cowardice. What kind of a person was he? What were his expectations? What were his choices? Questions without answer, except through conjecture.
J. H. Jacques describes the fantastic speed of social change in the past 200 years.
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"Nineteen-sixty five differs more radically from 1765 than 1765 differs from 55 B.C. Dr. Johnson would have been more at home in the world of Abraham than in the 20th century. The unprecedented technical transformation has changed the whole structure of social life, and sometimes openly and brutally with all the violence of revolution and war."6
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My great grandfather's life is almost incomprehensible to me, but maybe his service in the British army created some social awareness for his son, left his home in Boppard as a young man to escape military conscription. He settled in Canada where he married my grandmother, a woman of sturdy character and perception, whose parents were Scotch, although she was born in Ireland. Together they shed their old world identity and were reborn to a new life with an unbounded capacity to imitate and adopt this new way of living.
My father's parents were born in the Azores, a group of nine islands, in the North Atlantic Ocean, colonized by the Portuguese. My grandfather came to the United States in his middle teens and settled near New Bedford. Later he shipped out as a member of the crew on a whaler for a two year cruise. I recall his stories of this whaling voyage that included a landing for provisions and water on the coast of Africa. He became a harpooner in one of the small boats, that was lowered from the deck of the whaler whenever the look out sighted the tell tale spouts of a pod. It was a grisly and dangerous task for the small boat had to be rowed into close proximity of these huge mammals.
It was his duty to steer the boat until they were close enough to the whale for him to move forward into the bow in preparation to throwing the heavy harpoon. The harpoon was attached to a heavy line, coiled in tubs and wrapped around a post firmly anchored to the bottom of the boat. He would throw the harpoon at a spot just behind the head where the harpoon would penetrate the chest cavity and cause a massive hemorrhage. The shock of the harpoon would cause the whale to swim away from this terrifying insult, causing such friction on the post that the line would smoke, requiring repeated cooling douses of sea water. Eventually, the whale would tire and they could pull alongside to finish the kill with thrusts from lances.
On one occasion my grandfather harpooned a whale that immediately sounded and surfaced near his boat, striking the boat with its massive flukes, smashing it into kindling and throwing the men into the water. Although the blood from the wounded whale attracted sharks, the sharks attacked the whale and the men were picked up by the other boats unscathed.
Another harpooned whale towed my grandfather and his crew miles away from the mother ship, a true "Nantucket Sleigh Ride." Whales have been accurately timed at 27 knots and may exceed that speed. After two days they had about given up hope of seeing the mother ship again and had set a course for the coast of Africa, when she appeared on the horizon. Ivan Sanderson, in his book, "Follow the Whale," tells the story of
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"an 800 horse power catcher that harpooned an 80 foot Blue Whale which then proceeded to tow the catcher, whose engine was running full speed astern, a distance of 50 miles at speeds up to eight knots." 9
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My grandfather was repelled by this senseless killing and never shipped out again. Farley Mowat in his powerful book, "A Whale for the Killing," says:
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"If the whales are to survive, mankind must declare and enforce a world-wide moratorium on the killing of all and any whales. Such a respite must be of at least ten years duration."9
____
Humanics is not only confined to humankind.
My father who was delivered by his father on his farm in Dartmouth, Mass., enlisted in the Sea Bees as MM 1st class in World War II at the age of 49. Actually he was 55. There was no record of his birth in the church parish, so when he decided to enlist, he secured a birth certificate from the parish priest that listed his age as 49, 1 year under the age limit. He must have been the oldest Sea Bee in the service and of course he could never make up the 6 years after his discharge.
I remember his letter asking for a pair of basketball knee pads that he could wear under his fatigues, because he was bruising his knees crawling through the combat course. His letter, full of pride, about the young Marine sergeant who had returned from Guadalcanal, was how his instructor in bayonet drill, had complimented him on his proficiency with the bayonet. Apparently, he had hacked down an acre and half of underbrush during training. In his hands a bayonet was like a letter opener. I am puny in comparison.
On D Day, September 19, 1945, his battalion went ashore in Iwo Jima with the Marine assault waves. He was to, receive a battlefield commendation for repairing damaged tractors, under artillery and mortar fire on Yellow Beaches. He worked long hours, night and day, repairing other valuable equipment, essential to the combat Marines. He drank two canteens of water and ate only the chocolate in the C rations during the first five days. He was then 57. He was a patriot. This curious blending of old world heritage is typical of many family genealogies.
After a year of graduate study I needed a job. In 1935 there were few opportunities for a teacher-coach regardless of professional competency. After considerable searching, I was hired as a teacher-coach at New Hampton School, New Hampton, N.H., where I had been a student prior to attending Springfield College. I was to teach Physical Geography, Commercial Geography, Business Math and Biology every day, every week. In addition, I was to coach soccer, basketball and baseball in season. During my spare time I was trainer for the football team. For these duties I was paid $500 in ten equal payments. There was no retirement fund, nor major medical. The fringe benefits included meals for my wife and me and a small apartment in return for supervision of a group of students.
My second year showed an increase in salary to $750. My fantasies at this time included the hope that some day-1 would earn the princely sum of $50 per week, In 1937 I returned to Springfield College at the invitation of Dr. Cureton and Dr. Best for two years, which has been extended to forty years. My salary was $1800 for the academic year. It was several years before I achieved my cherished goal of $50 per week.
Our hopes and expectations were small for we were conditioned by the forces of our time as we are being conditioned by the power structure today. It was James Madison, who in the Virginia Convention of 1788 said:
"I believe there are more instances of abridgment of the freedom of people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent unsurpations."3
There is need to blunt the hedonistic revolution that has expudiated and ridiculed the fundamental virtues of honesty, thrift, modesty in personal consumption, sexual self-restraint and fidelity in marriage.
To quote Fred Gladstone Bratton:
"In spite of the instability of the times - and because of it - the business of Springfield College remains constant: to develop men and women with taste, sound judgment, and perspective, combining skill with a sense of values; freedom with moral responsibility; men and women who see the difference between the means by which we live and the ends for which we live; whose goal is excellence; and who aim to follow truth to wisdom."
In closing I am reminded of the poignant line by Anne Morrow Lindberg:
"Him that I love, I wish to be free, even from me."
That too is Humanics.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Arsenian, Seth (Edited by) The Humanics Philosophy of Springfield College. Springfield, Mass.: Springfield College, 1969.
2. Cronon, Vincent, Napoleon, Bungay, Suffolk: The Chaucer Press Ltd., 1971.
3. Evans, Medford, "Southern Politics." American Opinion, 20: 21-30, April 1977. 4. Hoar, William P., "The New World Order." American Opinion. 20: 13-20, April 1977.
5. Howarth, David, Waterloo: A Near Run Thing. Glasgow: William Collins Sons & Co., 1968.
6. Jacques, J.H., The Right and the Wrong. London: William Clowes and Sons, 1965.
7. Lachouque, Henry, Waterloo London: Arms and Armour Press, 1972.
8. Longford, Elizabeth, Wellington: The Years of the Sword. Bungay, Suffolk: The Chaucer Press, 1969.
9. Mowat, Farley, A Whale for the Killing. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1972.
10. Mueller, Gustav E., Education Limited Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1949
Professor Silvia's second Humanic's Report makes a connection between unprincipled athletic management and coaching practices and the decline of principle in the society generally. He calls upon educators of the whole man to cling to principle even when this does not serve as a reflection of society. Here follows, "Red" Silvia's heartfelt parting shot on the eve of his retirement.
HUMANICS AND ATHLETICS AND OTHER CONCERNS
CHARLES E. SILVIA
DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR OF HUMANICS
SPRINGFIELD COLLEGE
SPRINGFIELD, MASS.
MAY 11, 1978
Professor Silvia's reports marked the conclusion of one decade of the attempt to re-examine the philosophy of humanics by asking impactful practitioners to try to express what they had internalized and, in accordance with their feelings and beliefs about it, had integrated into their behavior. This process of trying to bring the essence of humanics, from the inside out, should not be expected to suggest any note of finality. A beneficial impact upon the human condition requires different expressions of humane motivation from time to time. A forecast of the future of the effort may be taken from a poem by H. H. Giles, the second Distinguished Professor of Humanics:
MAN, WONDERING
At first, I don't suppose
They put enough together
To have wonder.
What do gorillas ponder?
Fear and frustration,
Feeling good when fed,
Warm in the sun, -
All the sensations
That flood in and out -
These they must have,
But what remains?
Late, late, in the life of men
Come ways to remember
And with these
The puzzles grew
Until one day
Someone said,
What is the truth?
And all humanity
Went coursing off,
Bound to discover
Truth.
Much later -
Jesting Pilate time -
It dawned on some
That maybe we cannot assume
That certainty.
Lone, lone, and longing
Man !
Lost in the infinite
Yearns for the absolute
And when it is not found,
Asserts it.
When it is shattered,
When lamps are broken
And the golden bowl
Lies useless in the dust
The terror comes.
It is more terrible than death
To live
Without a meaning.
Why not accept
The human need?
Why not create
And try the riches of our thought?
A way,
A thousand million ways,
Subject to change,
Subject to exaltation
When one single gain is made -
New ways perceived,
Old treasures valued
When now insight
Can reveal
Their longer worth?
Let us make meaning
How we can!
Let us live for it
Making new each moment
Breathless, almost
In our eagerness to find,
Learning what it can mean
To be a man.
H. H. Giles

This appears to be a transcription of the original print copy as the formatting between this document and the publication differs in font, spacing, and line breaks, which ultimately changes the page numbering. There are also pages (which appear to be transcriptions of speeches) included in the physical publication that are not found in this .pdf version. It is unclear why some sections were removed. Finally, the physical copy has a table of contents, which this does not;

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